Why Keep a Bread Clip in Your Wallet? (2023)

We are no strangers to tackling a question such as this. A while ago, we looked into the origin of the idea of traveling with a crayon in your wallet. It seems kind of absurd, on the surface, and what we discovered when writing that post is that the idea is kind of absurd.

Then again, there’s a logical reason we found for doing so (as well as some other semi-logical reasons). We bring that up for this post as the two are going to end up being very similar in content and structure. With that out of the way, let’s shift the focus to this somewhat strange question.

Why keep a bread clip in your wallet? There was an online ad that was making this claim and the most logical reason found was that a bread clip could fix the plug on the bottom of a sandal or flip flop.

However, would that really be enough of a reason to keep a bread clip inside your wallet? Sure, emergencies can happen at any time, but it’s hard to justify carrying a bread clip with you just in case you can fix a very specific issue that could occur with your sandals or flip-flops.

Okay, so to better dive into this, let’s first look at what a bread clip is, and then we’ll discuss where this idea seemed to originate. Then, at the end, we’ll detail some practical ways that a bread clip can be used beyond just keeping bread and other foods fresh.

What is a bread clip?

Why keep a bread clip in your wallet? Well, the question is a little easier to think about when you actually know what is referred to by “bread clip.” Don’t overthink this one, bread clips are those small, plastic clips that you see attached to bread bags to keep them fresh.

Many times, we’ll just throw them away and twist bread bags underneath themselves to keep them fresh. Yet, the bread clips are used for that purpose. That’s all one is. A piece of plastic used to keep a bread bag sealed and fresh.

So, now that we’re all on the same page, let’s take a look at the origin of this idea.

Why keep a bread clip in your wallet? The origin of the question

Snopes did some research on this question to attempt to get some answers, and what they found was that the question of why keep a bread clip in your wallet was more or less clickbait. If you’ve been online long enough then you know all too well what clickbait is.

Here’s an excellent definition of clickbait from GCFGlobal that makes it all clear:

“Clickbait is a sensationalized headline that encourages you to click a link to an article, image, or video. Instead of presenting objective facts, clickbait headlines often appeal to your emotions and curiosity. Once you click, the website hosting the link earns revenue from advertisers, but the actual content is usually of questionable quality and accuracy. Websites use clickbait to draw in as many clicks as possible, thus increasing their ad revenue.”

So, in April 2022, Snopes found a misleading online ad that claimed that you should always keep a bread clip in your wallet with a “here’s why” at the end of it. Chances are you’ve probably encountered weird posts similar to that. Again, they found more or less nothing besides the aforementioned trick of using a bread clip to fix a plug on the bottom of a sandal or flip flop.

The website also found a similar ad on Facebook which led to a 90-page slideshow, and one of the pages revealed the flip flop trick. They even found an old tweet referencing the same idea, so it seems that’s one of the few reasons to actually keep a bread clip in your wallet. Of course, that same idea isn’t going to do much to help repair a pair of Timberlands for hiking.

Why keep a bread clip in your wallet without the clickbait nonsense?

This post is not clickbait and we’re not following in the footsteps of the various ads online claiming this idea that everyone should travel with a bread clip in their wallet. What we want to do now is look at practical ways to use bread clips past their intended use, and then see if such uses could be useful if you had a bread clip in your wallet. Does that make sense?

Use case 1

You can use one as a makeshift bookmark in the case that you either don’t have a bookmark or have lost yours.

Worth it for this idea? Yeah. We guess. If you were reading and needed a bookmark on the go, you could just reach in your wallet and grab the clip. Then again, you could also just keep the clip inside your book as if you’re taking a book with you somewhere, we assume you’re going to remember a bookmark.

Use case 2

With bread clips, you can use them as a cable management system to keep your cables better organized.

Worth it for this idea? Unless you plan to help out a buddy or family member (or whoever) with cable management, you won’t need to keep a bread clip in your wallet to utilize this pretty decent idea.

Use case 3

You can use bread clips to label spare keys so you can keep track of what they unlock.

Worth it for this idea? Well, before we answer, let’s just say that we kind of like this idea as spare keys can quickly become a nuisance when you have a bunch of them and have no idea what they unlock. Sure, this involves making your spare keys bulkier, but it’s still a pretty good idea. Regarding if you’d need to keep the clip (or clips) in your wallet or not to pull this off, no. We imagine your spare keys will be at your home or apartment.

Use case 4

Speaking of labeling, you can also use them to label computer, cable, and other such electrical cords.

Worth it for this idea? Again, the only reason this would be suitable to this idea is if a friend or somebody needs a labeling system, and you get them started with the bread clip that’s in your wallet. But really, what are the odds of this actually happening?

Use case 5

Bread clips can be used to clip matching socks together before you wash them to keep them together.

Worth it for this idea? While this may not be an answer to the question of why keep a bread clip in your wallet, it’s one of our favorite uses on this list. Mismatched socks are such a common problem as it can be hard to keep track of all the pairs you have unless you only have one type of sock. Yet, as is becoming the theme of these uses, having a bread clip inside of your wallet will not be necessary for this.

Use case 6

Use them to help you string lights to tree branches.

Worth it for this idea? Probably not just because you’d need more than a few bread clips to pull this off. However, when camping, having bread clips on handy for this hack could actually be beneficial. And, we guess, you could keep one or two of them inside your wallet just to justify this. On this topic, we’ve already detailed five of the best and cheapest camping string lights on the market today that could work well in association with this hack.

Use case 7

Use them as markers in your garden to label plants and herbs.

Worth it for this idea? No, you don’t need to have a bread clip in your wallet to be able to use one (and multiple) to help label your garden. This is actually a really good idea as even though garden experts won’t have an issue remembering what is what in their gardens, some garden owners will have that issue.

Final thoughts

So, why keep a bread clip in your wallet? There are many logical ways you can use a bread clip past its original intent, but we can’t justify always having one inside of your wallet. The likelihood of you needing one randomly is going to be slim to none.

Truthfully, the ideology behind this concept is more or less motivated by trickery. As we mentioned before, the ads claiming this on the internet have been found to be nothing more than clickbait. Online users really hate clickbait, and it’s not hard to understand why as we’re right there with them.

It also all seems to come back to the idea of using a bread clip to fix the bottom of a flip flop or sandal if a specific problem occurs with them. In all seriousness, if you’re that paranoid about your sandals or flip-flops failing, you probably should just buy a new pair as why are you fearing that something’s going to happen to them, in the first place?

Fixing a flip flop or sandal with a bread clip, additionally, isn’t a long-term solution. Well, we hope this helped to clear the air. In the future, if you come across an article claiming why you should always keep a bread clip in your wallet (or something to that extent), just assume it’s nonsensical clickbait.