Shrink your home with e-frames

Idea for slimming down your space: digital photo frames.

I’ve written before about our plan to shrink our footprint – smaller car, smaller living quarters, less use of consumables, less acquisition, etc. We’re working on it. Things are being consumed and not replaced. We long ago threw off the “upgrade” addiction that has gripped the US – more megs, more songs, more speed (speed faster than you can type). I have older TVs. As they die, they aren’t being replaced. I have older clothes, 14-year old shirts that I still wear quite happily. We don’t buy things because they’re popular and we don’t ‘have to’ have much. Some of our stuff is up for sale, and we’ll trim that down until we sell the anchor (the house), and then are able to move in one modest vehicle, or by shipping it.

You have to have your knick knacks and bric a brac? Try consolidating. I like photos too. Personally, I prefer putting them on the net, where I can share them beyond my front door, and see them from anywhere. But with a $40 frame from Office Depot that swaps out hundreds of photos, every few seconds, you really can get rid of those large frames and walls of photography.

We have those multi-photo frames in our ikon corner, to serve as a prayer list. I’m thinking of increasing our capacity by replacing those, when we move, with a single e-frame. Set it to flip through a photo every few seconds, and say the name of the person with “Lord have mercy.” Works for us.

But if this consolidation thing works for some things, it must work for others. Scanning all those piles of old papers is the classic start – the paperless office. I’m still in that process, since I’ve had an office from the time I was a kid. But hopefully 2009 will see the last of non-essential paper.

I’m going to work on the DVDs and Videos next. There are just so many that would be better off in someone else’s hands. I just don’t buy them anymore. There are maybe a dozen I just have to own. The rest, I havent’ touched a 2nd time.

Slim. Slim. Slim. Want to lose weight? Live like you’re small; the rest will follow.

Kiva Mastercard (Advanta) Rocks!

I try to regularly review products or services that help my business or are just plain good representatives of the business values I espouse. Well the latest is the Kiva Mastercard from Advanta. I’ve mentioned kiva.org before. You make a $25 micro-loan that is combined with other microloans and used to fund a small entrepreneur in the third world. It might be a taxi driver in Togo or a market stall owner in Cambodia. The loan is paid back over time, and then the money is yours again to either withdraw or re-loan.

The Kiva Advanta Mastercard has no fee, low interest, and they match your kiva loans dollar for dollar, plus give you 5% statement credit on kiva loans and/or any charitable giving. That’s the key feature, in my view. If you don’t care about earning enough points over several years for a tennis racket, and would rather extend your reach, this is the ultimate card to do it. I just activated mine, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Besides, speaking of branding (previous post), it’s the brand that says “I give a crap.” Or, more appropriately, “let’s change the world together.”

Also, it was invented for business, but they now have a consumer version if you prefer. For more:

See this video |  Get Kiva MasterCard | Kiva B4B Blog