Hold the Aquafina….I’ll have tap, please!

You won’t say you don’t “do” tap water when you see how much your eight recommend servings of bottled water really costs!

Here’s how cutting back on this and six other items could save you roughly $1,000 a year. Click here for the full Yahoo! Finance article, “7 Things You’re Wasting Money On.”

Annette
-Marketing

Forget, cash, checks or plastic. Just pay with your…cell phone?

Forget emptying your pockets to look for change for the L, Subway or Metrorail (wherever you are!) Just wave your cell phone past an electronic reader and you’re ready to roll! That may be the direction the U.S. is headed in. In places like Japan and Finland, the cell phone has become the new wallet…a tool for payment with a simple wave or via text message.

Click here to read the CNNMoney article via Yahoo.com in its entirety and learn more.

I would be apprehensive to use my cell phone in this manner. What if someone steals my PDA? That’s the direction the world is going in technologically but I’m not ready! I’ll continue to check my balances on my cell phone and use plastic.

Connex Credit Union members can set up account alert notifications by email to receive balances and reminders. Even better, if you can access your email on your cell phone or PDA, you can conveniently access those account notifications! This email service is one of the benefits of having a Connex account! Click here to learn how to access Connex Online Banking or become a member!

Has the “dream wedding” become the “dream wedding on a budget?”

There is a show on WE TV called Platinum Weddings where brides splurge on every aspect of their wedding, from renting out grand halls to buying the most exotic flowers for their arrangements. Let’s not even mention wedding gowns! This may be considered a “standard” wedding for someone who’s able to afford it but for many people it may considered a “dream wedding,” where price isn’t a factor when it comes to renting venues, purchasing décor, the wedding gown and everything else for that special day.

According to the New Haven Register Newspaper article “Vowing to Save: More couples planning their dream wedding on a budget,” today’s economic reality is confronting the dream wedding, one of consumer culture’s most cherished institutions. Now, it is quite common for people to make their own decorations and dance to iPods instead of DJs at their receptions. I planned my wedding on a budget and I didn’t pay an astronomical amount to plan the best celebration of my life to date! I saved my money and spent wisely while getting the décor, dress and other things I wanted.

It’s good to know that many people are finding creative and budget-friendly ways to have the weddings of their dreams in this economy. It would be wise to open a savings account especially for your wedding. Connex offers Special Purpose Accounts (SPAs) so you can save for anything you wish while earning dividends…and you can even create a custom account name! Click here to learn more about Connex Special Purpose Accounts. Start saving for your dream wedding…open one today.