The Addison Cafe

So, at any given time we have a variety of “ideas” in our pipeline here at the credit union. Sometimes they make it through to reality, sometimes not.  One thing we are playing with right now is the idea of a new checking account that is a little different than your run of the mill checking.

Essentially, it’s another free checking account with an above average interest rate. The hitch is that all of the interest paid on the account would go directly to the charity of your choice (with some parameters around which charities qualify). In addition, every time you swiped your debit card we would donate a little more to that charity (can you imagine how much would get paid out if everyone used this??) Bottom line: you get a free checking, and a charity gets paid for it.

So my two question are:  1) Do you like the idea? and 2) Would you personally use it? 

I feel like ever since I picked up a diseased street rat and gently stroked it thinking it was a lost baby chinchilla nothing interesting has happened to me…that is until I remembered…

One of my close guy friends is the ultimate bachelor. For instance, he went MONTHS without anything (seriously, ANYTHING) in his kitchen except for an old bag of baby carrots in the fridge until his girlfriend finally brought over some old cups to drink tap water from. By the way, her charitable visit was the first time the bathroom had ever even seen hand soap either. Speaking of the bathroom…

Unfortunately, at the end of 2008 my free spirited bachelor friend was laid off due to the economy forcing his employer to downsize.  Partially because of his new need to save money, and partially due to not checking the mail, his gas ended up getting turned off, leaving him with less monthly expenses and personal hygiene than ever before.  But alas, my friend is a crafty one and came up with a solution: A popcorn bowl. How did that solve his problems? Since his gas was off, he would microwave several small bowls of water, combine them in the glorious popcorn bowl, and Ta Da! Occasional sponge bath here we come. (The picture I posted is the actual bowl in his bathroom).

The moral of the story?  It has been 6 months, my friend has had a new job for a while now, and he still hasn’t turned the gas on.  Whether he formed an attachment to the bowl, is forgetful, or just wants to keep saving money from that bill, only he knows.  One thing is for sure; it is amazing at how people can adapt to less than “ideal” situations. Remember, for 99% of mankind’s history people didn’t have showers, deodorant, electricity, cars, phones, or Twinkies and they somehow managed to survive. Are there any things you can “get used to” that could save money?

Sorry to kick the dead horse, but this post is one more reminder that time = money, except this time there is something tangible that is easy, quick, and free that you can do to save yourself a lot of time.  It’s called “RSS” and if you aren’t using it now, you hopefully will be soon.  RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” (when you see the orange icon like the one to the left on a webpage, it means that page has an RSS feed you can subscribe to). It sounds techy and advanced, but it’s not. In a nutshell, having an RSS feed set up means that instead of checking every single website and blog you follow for new information, you can subscribe to that site and your RSS feed will bring new content on those web pages to YOU as soon as they are published. Some benefits are:

1. You save tons of time from surfing, checking sites for updates, and sorting through information.
2. You can consume WAY more information, in WAY less time.
3. It’s the coolest thing since sliced bread.

It can be hard to explain (even though it’s easy to do) and I won’t dive into how to set it up, but this short video does an excellent job of explaining it.

Every once in a while you see or hear something that stops and makes you think…maybe even cracks your paradigm a little.  I just had one of those of those moments watching a car commercial none-the-less.  In the commercial, the narrator says “…when wealth is measured in time, and not money.” Now unless he is some sort of obsessive watch collector, I think there is something to think about there.

Do you ever stop to question what it is you REALLY want?  Maybe it’s to climb to the top of a company, or Mount Everest, to have a huge house and host people all the time, or a small, simple house with a low monthly payment. Maybe it’s a dozen kids and a community of family, or maybe you just want to travel the world someday with your spouse and no kids. Whatever it is that you ultimately want, it is up to you to realize it and chase after it. I say this because sometimes we wake up mid way through life (I am not there yet but have seen it) and realize that each day we get up and go to work to make money to pay for all the stuff we buy when we aren’t at work (because we “deserve” it for working) and it turns into an endless cycle. Our “wealth” stops being time, or people, or chasing desires, and turns into “stuff”. Remember how cool car phones used to be and how much they cost? Not anymore. Stuff dies. Companies intentionally produce things with short life cycles so you will have to buy yet another and another (what number iPod are you on?)

What does “wealth” mean to you? Just food for thought.