Captain Planet is my hero

My generation grew up watching Captain Planet, a show that made it very clear that polluting oil companies are the bad guys, and that YOU the viewer can help save the world by picking up trash and planting trees.  

Maybe that's the reason why so many kids my age feel responsible for this planet, and actually go out of their way to cut down on waste.  Also, that's probably the most racially and culturally diverse group of superheroes I ever saw, so it probably taught us some ethnic tolerance, but maybe that's a stretch.

I just wanted to say that it really has become a big cultural movement, and I think it's more than a passing fad to be environmentally conscious.  Even at rowdy irresponsible drinking parties in college, people recycle the empties despite their inebriated state.

I for one am going to try to do my part, just like the powerful and blue Captain Planet.  A few energy saving lightbulbs, conserving paper consumption, and recycling can make a big difference... at least, that's what TV told me.   

It's easier to spend when someone else earned it

Just made my first car payments this month, very exciting stuff. New experiences in the real world. My very own responsibility. R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y....geez that's a long one.

It's a lot easier to spend money when you didn't have to earn it, but I have to admit some part of me really loves that I actually own something.

It's also a lot easier when the money isn't physically in your wallet, it's just this electronic stuff that gets pulled out of your account when you swipe a piece of plastic. I don't think I'm quite responsible enough to actually budget yet, so for now everything is just automatically drafted from my savings account (also a fairly new development) and I set up all my bills to go to my bank so I don't have to sort through a pile of crap to get my stupid account number.

Oooh, and I get to use my new debit card at an ATM today for the first time. I get to use ANY ATM that I want! Hooray for online-only banks, thanks for paying my ATM fees!

What’s in a Name?

So lately I’ve been hearing a lot about how to protect yourself from identity theft, and while I have been fortunate and have not been a victim ***knock on wood****, I do know plenty of people who have.  From what I’ve heard, it’s no picnic, and it can leave you with a lot more damage than the banks would probably have you believe.

My friend travelled abroad in London, for instance, and she told me that people have to take their hand and hold it over their debit card at an ATM to shield it from the hidden cameras thieves install in them.  Additionally, at restaurants, instead of handing your credit card to the stranger waiting on your table to take to the back of the restaurant away from prying eyes, the server must bring a card terminal to the table so your card never leaves your side. 

 

So what can you do to protect yourself from identity theft?  According to an article I read:

Though many folks worry about keeping their credit card information secure when shopping online, the top methods that identity thieves use to steal personal data are still low-tech……Watch your personal documents, be careful to whom you give out your data over the phone, and be careful of mail theft."

 

I really hate snail mail.  It’s SLOW, it’s WASTEFUL, and it actually puts you at risk for being a victim of FRAUD!  Information that goes through electronically has all sorts of fancy shmancy encryption so it’s actually a lot harder to hack than just sifting through a few garbage cans or opening a mailbox or two.

 

The other thing that really caught my attention was the personal information we put on social networking sites though.  Your birthday is enough for a crafty thief to get the information he needs to do all sorts of damage.

 

What a world we live in… you can’t tell your internet friends what day you were born without having to worry that you might get a bill for an amazing vacation you never took.

Save a Tree, Plant Another

http://www.centralhudson.com/about_us/news/july24_09.html

This electric company has the right idea! To get customers to sign up for e-bills to save them the cost of paper and shipping, Central Hudson Electric held a promotion to plant a tree for every person who signed up for paperless billing and electronic auto-pay.  Happy Arbor Day indeed!

Leather in a Prius

 An anecdote:

The other day my friend and I were watching TV when a commercial for a new hybrid car came on.  He says, "I would really like to get that, but they don't make hybrids with leather.  If they had it with leather seats, I would buy it."  I paused for a moment, then remarked something along the lines of, "The cows they would need to make the leather create more emissions and smog than cars do, so that whole 'be green' effort would be kind of lost."

My point:

Some companies have made a big push toward online bill payments, but a lot of times they won't actually send you the bill electronically.  My friend Dina has a Nordstrom's credit card, and she told me that she signed up to pay her bill online, but that she kept forgetting to pay it until she received a courtesy call the day it was due.  She realized, she says, that they were still sending her a paper bill, but that she was expecting an email notification that just never came.  She called Nordstrom's customer service, and they informed her that they are not set up for ebills, though they do push for electronic payments. 

That means they still send out a paper statement every month, even when customers are paying online.  It's worse that they're sending it to people who don't even want the paper, so instead of just posting the bill on the same site that you're paying the bill on, you need a piece of paper to tell you the amount you owe.  So for every customer who pays their bill online, just as many paper bills have to be mailed out.  Madness...

Not to rag on Nordies... I'm a fan, I just think it's silly to create unnecessary waste while claiming to clean up the environment.  So no, Hybrids probably won't come with a leather interior, but for now even if you can pay your bills without paper you may not be able to see your bills without paper.

Be Nice to the Mailman

Just a side note on the whole paper-bills-get-lost-in-the-mail thing, but my boyfriend is working in collections, and he says a big portion of people he calls have no idea they are late because they sent their checks in the mail... and that was the last anyone ever saw of it.

It's hard enough to try and build credit when I can't get approved for a credit card, I don't need to unknowingly pay my bills late on top of it.

Generation Gap: Paper or E-bills

Anytime I get a paper bill, I immediately go online and have my bills sent electronically.  I hate getting bills sent via snail mail.  I just end up posting it on a cork bulletin board and walking by it a million times until I completely forget all about it.  Besides, I trust the constantly updated internet a lot more than I trust the USPS.  People lose mail all the time, "it got lost in the mail" is an inevitable fact of the postal system.  Yet the older generations seem to struggle with this, perhaps because they do not see the point in doing things any differently than they had been for so many years. 

I think my parents are pretty savvy in a lot of ways, but they are stubbornly stuck in their ways when it comes to paying bills online.  They like to have that physical bill, I guess because they don't really trust the internet when it comes to their personal banking.  I have no idea how they can keep track of all those stacks of paper.  It's so daunting to look at that paper mountain... and just think of all those envelopes that need licking (shudder).  Maybe one day they'll catch on and clean up the clutter that overwhelms their countertops.

Credit Card Catch 22

I got another credit card application rejection letter today.  It's gotten to the point that the only marks on my credit report are all the credit checks from applying.  The really sad thing is that I'm not going after the low interest cards with amazing rewards; I would be thrilled to be accepted for one of those cards that are designed for people with a limited credit history.  Alas, I am un-credit card-able.

Just a few months ago I was bombarded with credit card offers in the mail, as a student with no income I was constantly getting these envelopes practically shouting "PRE-APPROVED."  Now... well, I have a job so I could actually afford to pay my balance and I have a piece of paper that means I'm educated enough to know that credit cards are not to be used as a way to live beyond my means.  Unfortunately, both of these things mean nothing.  I have no credit, so I'm considered risky to the lender, but in order to build my credit score I'd need a credit card.  

Store cards are all I can get, but unfortunately they aren't doing much to help my case.  I have a few, but rarely use them because I really don't need to go to the mall all the time just so I can maybe one day get a Visa logo on my card.  

After doing some research these are my options I've found:

1) Apply for a pre-paid credit card, which basically amounts to me lending the bank or whoever the money I would like to spend.  I put down $500, I get a $500 credit limit and not a penny more.

2) Apply for a gas card, supposedly these are easier to get

3) Wait it out, keep working and paying off my loan and hope the credit gods smile on me

Any suggestions?  I feel like singing the songs from those freecreditreport.com commercials...