1-A-Week: Week 43: Old Stereo Receiver

Nov 5, 2011 by Ben

As I was getting rid of some old electronics gear, I just sold my old receiver on Craigslist for $75 dollars.

I have had that receiver for over 10 years and bought my new one for $150.  Amazing.

Ben…

1AW is a project by which I’m getting rid of at least 1 thing each week that I do not need, want, or use anymore. Doing at least one thing per week helps me reduce the clutter in my life and make room for what is truly important.

What are you getting rid of this week? Leave a comment and let me know.

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Remember remember the 5th of November

Nov 4, 2011 by Ben

The time has come.

Being complacent is no longer an option.

Convenience is no longer a valid excuse.

It’s time to take action.

Are you upset at our current economic situation and want to do something about it?

Do you wan to support the Occupy Wall Street movement but don’t have time to camp out?

Do you not care about any of this?

Either way, you should move your money out of the big banks and put it in your local credit union.  It just makes sense.   The big banks don’t offer you anything that you can’t get from your local credit union.  And you won’t pay anything for it.  In fact you will actually make interest on them holding your money.  Strange concept, the banks giving you interest on YOUR money, I know.

Why are you giving your money to large corporations when you could be giving it to a local company that YOU own and that pays YOU with its profits?  Seriously, why would you?

I already moved my money into a credit union before I heard about the National Move Your Money Day on November 5th, but thats OK, you can do it anytime.  Just do it.  And here is how get started:

Step 1: Find a local credit union and open an account.

Step 2: Request your new debit card and order new checks (if you still use checks)

Step 3: Re-route your direct deposit from your employer (if needed)

Step 4: If you have any bills auto-paid from your old checking account, get them set up from your new account. Or you can stop paying bills and make money while doing it.

Step 5: Close your old bank account.

 

When you close your old account I first recommend electronically transferring most of your money out of your old bank account directly into your credit union and leaving just a little bit in there to close out to avoid any trouble.

Also be kind and courteous to the clerk when they ask you why you are closing your account.  Simply smile and tell them that you don’t need to pay them to hold your money when you don’t have to.

Then smile, walk out, and hold your head high knowing that you have made a great decision that will help support your local community and save you money.  And tell your friends about it too.  Spread the word.  Tell them that you have joined the over 650,000 that have joined a credit union in the last month (which is more than all of 2010!)

Its time to make some wise decisions about how you vote with your wallet.  Take action now. 

Ben…

If you switched to a local bank or credit union, let me know in the comments.

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1-A-Week: Week 42: An old Star Wars book

Oct 29, 2011 by Ben

This week for my 1AW project I gave away an old Star Wars storybook I’ve had since I was a wee lad.  I was going to sell it on ebay, but one of my friends sons looked at it and his eyes got all big and excited so I gave it to him.  He LOVED it and that made me very happy.

 

Ben…

1AW is a project by which I’m getting rid of at least 1 thing each week that I do not need, want, or use anymore. Doing at least one thing per week helps me reduce the clutter in my life and make room for what is truly important.

What are you getting rid of this week? Leave a comment and let me know.

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1-A-Week: Week 41: My ReplayTV

Oct 19, 2011 by Ben

I cut the cord a long time ago.  Much to the dismay of my beautiful wife, I was sick of paying so much for our TV cable bill, and was sick of watching so much TV, so I dropped it.  We stopped getting TV, and shortly thereafter I canceled our home phone as well.

One thing I didn’t do at the time was get rid of our old ReplayTV DVR.  Not sure why, but probably because I didn’t want to get behind and mess with all the wires to get it out etc.

Well our old receiver was dying so I had to replace it, so I took the opportunity to clean out the electronics gear and get rid of the old ReplayTV.

This thing was AWESOME back in the day.  They had this sweet commercial advance function that juts automatically skipped all the commercials in your recorded shows.  It was the best, and that is why they were sued out of existence by the wonderful Hollywood studios.  But this DVR was still the best thing around.  I even upgraded it with a bigger hard drive to record more shows.

Sad to see it go, but Its been sitting around collecting dust and not getting any use, so on Craigslist it goes and hopefully someone can use it.

Ben…

1AW is a project by which I’m getting rid of at least 1 thing each week that I do not need, want, or use anymore. Doing at least one thing per week helps me reduce the clutter in my life and make room for what is truly important.

What are you getting rid of this week? Leave a comment and let me know.

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1-A-Week: Week 40: Fixing the world’s problems

Oct 15, 2011 by Ben

As you may have noticed, there are things that are not quite right with the world lately.

Weather its political unrest in foreign countries to the Occupy Wall Street protests going on right here in America.

To put it simply, things could be better.

I’m a fixer.  When I see a problem or something that could work better my mind immediately kicks into high gear to find a solution.  I’m a big supporter of the OWS protests going on all over the country and world now.  I’m OK that they don’t have a clear set of demands and what they’d like to see fixed because there are so many big problems wrong with our world right now, I understand their frustrations and I am glad they are out to voice them.  I hope the results of the protest isn’t one fix that causes everyone to pack up camp and go home, but I hope the result is everyone in this country and those around the world starting up a conversation around “what can we do better?”, “and how can we fix this?”.  That is the results I’m hoping for.

That said, I’m still a fixer at heart, so beyond being out to show support with the other protesters I have to take action to make things better.  One of the things I think we can and should do more is to vote with our wallets.  Money drives way too much of our political process, but it also gives us some opportunity to bring change into the system.  If you don’t like how a particular company operates, or don’t like how they make their products, don’t buy their products and tell all your family and friends to do the same.  If you do like how one company runs their business, support that business.

I bought a Prius, not because I’m a super tree-hugging eco-warrior hippie, but because I think gas is stupid, and I think there are much better alternatives out there and we should be exploring those.  So I opted to vote with my wallet and pay for a car and car company that is actually researching and building toward that (hopefully).

So today I’m voting with my wallet again and closing my Bank of America account.  I only kept this account so I’d have access to local ATM’s to deposit checks and take cash out, but I can no longer support their business practices.  Beyond that, I am tired of paying them to hold on to MY MONEY!..especially when I have other choices.  So I closed my account and moved all of my money over to a credit union. (it was VERY easy)

No fees, I can use any ATM and they will reimburse me, and most importantly, I can now deposit checks from home via my scanner of via my mobile phone.

So I’m getting more features, better service, and its costing me less money and I’m not supporting a business that is truly doing some very bad things.

 

I can’t believe I’ve been a member for 15 years and paid all that money in fees when I didn’t have to.   So for this weeks 1-A-Week, I’m getting rid of a bad bank account that I do not need or want anymore.   And this makes me very happy.  Plus that picture on my card is HORRIBLE.

Remember remember the 5th of November.  November 5th this year is Bank transfer day.  If you don’t support how the banks are hurting our economy, transfer your money out and into a credit union.  Even if you don’t support the OWS movement, why would you pay a company to hold your money when you don’t have to.  Its very easy to find a credit union near you.

Ben…

1AW is a project by which I’m getting rid of at least 1 thing each week that I do not need, want, or use anymore. Doing at least one thing per week helps me reduce the clutter in my life and make room for what is truly important.

What are you getting rid of this week? Leave a comment and let me know.

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1-A-Week: Week 38-39: Letting stuff go

Oct 8, 2011 by Ben

This week for my 1AW I am getting rid of an old rug I kept saying to myself that I was going to clean and try to salvage.   But I never did, so out it goes.

I’m a fixer.  I try to save and fix anything I can before throwing it out.  But sometimes you just have to let stuff go.

Last week I didn’t post, but I also got rid of some misc junk from my garage.

Ben…

1AW is a project by which I’m getting rid of at least 1 thing each week that I do not need, want, or use anymore. Doing at least one thing per week helps me reduce the clutter in my life and make room for what is truly important.

What are you getting rid of this week? Leave a comment and let me know.

Popularity: 1%

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