Two Disruptive Products That Will Buy Lots Of Lunches

If a person didn't have scrooge tendencies before the downturn, it's time to learn how to spend wisely. That means getting value for most products and services and using the careful spending to subsidize life's luxuries. Recently I've improved upon my thriftiness with two new products.

I opened a checking account at a local credit union. Not highly original, but very renumerative. The account, government deposit insured, pays 4.01% up to $25,000. All you have to do to earn the rate is have one ACH transaction a month and one debit card transaction. Both do-able. This is a great deal. A friend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa says there is a credit union there that pays 5.01% with similiar terms. I intend to look for more of these credit unions and park more cash at 4-5% government guaranteed. Beats the hell out of commercial banks.

The second item of interest is Magic Jack. MJ is an internet telephone product. It costs $20 per year for local and long distance phone calls. The call quality is as good as the cable company and the cost much less. You just plug your phone into the MJ and then the MJ into your computer. You take the MJ with you when you travel. It will move with me back and forth between Nebraska and Florida. $20 a year doesn't even touch all the taxes on regular phone service. The savings will pay for a lot of meals. That makes a thrifty man happy.

Now if we could only get our elected representatives, city, state, and federal, to look for better deals we could really make progress.