The Cultured Girl

Wedding season is upon us, which means that all around the country, people are shelling out ridiculous sums of money to attend or participate in action-packed, three-day blowouts. But every time I get a wedding invite in the mail, I’m puzzled by why my digitally savvy peers still insist on such analog (and expensive) wedding traditions. Brand Noise this week has a cool post on precisely that topic. Here’s how some people are giving weddings a high-tech, low-budget upgrade.

• DIY digital photos. With everyone and their grandmothers using digital cameras nowadays, you hardly need to hire a professional photographer (depending on how formal you want your photos to be). Instead, ask everyone to hand over their digital pics, and use a service like Pictureal, which will professionally edit the best images, let you customize the selections online, and then send you a DVD with the final edits.
• E-mail invitations. With so much of the wedding moving online—from gift registries to hotel information—why not send Evites instead of pricey printed cards? You can always draw up some formal invitations for family or older guests who might not have email.
• Ipod soundtracks. Time was, you had to hire a DJ to get access to an extensive music collection. But increasingly, couples are ditching the DJ in favor of an extensive digital music collection on an iPod or computer. Just make sure you have someone manning the playlist who knows when to get people fired up or cue up the occasional slow song.

Most urban-dwelling 20- and 30-somethings I know shudder at the thought of someday moving to the suburbs. But with the housing prices as absurd as they are in cities such as San Francisco and New York, sometimes it seems that moving to a culture-starved, commute-tainted burg is inevitable. Fortunately, a new housing concept, dubbed the “new village,” could supply a very different vision for suburban dwelling. Spearheaded by community planners like Robert McIntyre, new villages would combine the density of urban downtowns with a small-town vibe —think walkable squares with farmers markets — alongside major commuter rail lines. In some ways the idea sounds a bit too pre-planned for me, but I also like the idea of suburbs without the sterile subdivisions and long commutes.

Mondays are bad, and the Monday between a semi-holiday weekend and an actual holiday on Tuesday, July 4, is even worse. But if you find yourself slacking off today and daydreaming about barbecues, you’re not alone. According to the consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Monday, July 3, could rival Christmas Eve day and New Year’s Eve day as the least productive workday of the year.  “With the national observance of Independence Day on Tuesday, workers around the country will try to get a four-day weekend out of it by taking off Monday.  Those who were not quick enough to request the day off may be less productive that day, seeing it as a day to ‘take it easy,’” said CEO John A. Challenger. So join your fellow Americans and take it easy for a change.

For most 20-somethings who complain about being broke, I always want to grab their shoulders and sternly explain that there are several easy things they can do to spend less money, like avoiding $4 lattes and packing a lunch everyday. Now, an article in today’s New York Times by my buddy Damon Darlin pulls together those great tips plus a whole bunch more in one of the best pieces of money advice for 20-somethings I’ve ever read. Among the suggestions: Never carry a credit card balance; if you get a raise, keep spending like you didn’t; and invest your 401(k) in index funds (or invest in a 401(k), period.) These age-old ideas aren’t revolutionary, but this story rolls them all up in one simple, persuasive package. Print it out and read it next time you want to buy something you can’t afford.

I shudder every time I throw away an old ATM receipt or an airline boarding pass. But while I know I should be more concerned about identity theft, I just don’t see myself buying a bulky electric paper-shredder. Now, in the “why didn’t someone come up with this before?” category, Cool Hunting is spotlighting a pair of paper-shredding scissors from Japan. At around $20, they’re a cheap, handheld solution to the problem of protecting your trash. It seems that they are available online, but the web site is in Japanese so I’m not sure if they ship to the U.S.

I really dislike shopping for clothes. So when I do, I prefer to buy a whole bunch of stuff in one fell swoop. That’s why I love the endurance test that is the sample sale, wherein hundreds of women, toting pounds and pounds of clothes, strip down to their skivvies in the middle of hot warehouses to try on choice items before anyone else can get to them. Kind of like a thrift store, but way more expensive.

Thankfully, Budget Fashionista today has a great primer on how to shop sample sales, which everyone should read before venturing into one. I highly recommend Billion Dollar Babes, a series of sample sales held in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and other major cities featuring cut-rate wares from hundreds of designers. And be sure to check out the semi-annual Barney’s warehouse sale if you ever happen to be in New York at the opportune time: It’s a great place to find truly unique items that are often selling for chain-store prices.

Remember SaveKaryn.com? It was an utterly ridiculous web site launched in 2002 by a 20-something New Yorker, asking complete strangers to help pay off her $20,000 in credit-card debt. But the really ridiculous part is that it worked. Now, there’s a really cool startup called Fundable that’s applying that idea to just about anything.

Here’s how it works: Say you want to raise money to throw a party, make a documentary, or—dare I say—launch a web site . You simply start a Fundable page explaining what you need the money for and set a target amount; then, anyone who wants to donate money can do so. If the target is reached in a set amount of time, every person who donates the money gets some promised perk: say, an invite to the party or a credit in the film. If the target isn’t reached, no one has to pay. This site would be a great way to solicit money for a charity event without feeling like you’re begging your friends for money. One guy even used it to fund some much-needed dental work. Of course, if you really want to be obnoxious, you could use it to pay off your credit card debt.

I love the idea behind Swaptree: I get rid of something I don’t want, and a perfect stranger sends me something I want for free. The online bartering service is one of several new sites that let you “buy” new stuff using your old stuff. Lala.com, which launches on July 4, deals exclusively in CDs, and Bookins.com lets you trade books. Swaptree does both, plus DVDs and videogames. The site is in private beta right now, but we explain the whole concept in this month’s Business 2.0:

“To start a swap, users enter the UPC codes of the titles they want to trade and create a list of those they might want. Swaptree’s engine will constantly look for matches and present users with potential swaps. … When users find a swap they like, they can initiate trades: Within two days, all parties get e-mail instructions on where to send their stuff.”

While packing for an upcoming trip last night, I found a couple old ticket stubs that, like usual, had been stashed inside the front pocket of my suitcase. I threw away without a second thought, but I guess I should’ve been more careful because, according to the Guardian, these crumpled papers provide the essential building blocks needed to steal my identity.

Using only a British Airways stub found in the trash, reporter Steve Boggan was able to gain full access to a traveler’s personal details–including his passport number, the date it expired, his nationality (Dutch, living in the UK), and his date of birth. Boggan then surfed publicly available databases and found out–within 15 minutes–where the passenger lived, where he worked, which universities he had attended, and how much his house was worth. Find out how he did it here.

So besides ripping up your boarding pass, what other steps should you take to make sure no one snatches your cultured identity? Here’s a good list I gleaned from MSNBC:

1. According to officials, people really do go ‘dumpster diving’, or sift through trash to find a statement or bill that someone didn’t destroy. Tear up — or, if you prefer, shred — credit card statements, solicitations and other documents that contain private financial information.
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It’s astounding to me how many 20-somethings just do not save money. There’s really no excuse when it’s so damn easy to open up an Orange savings account at ING Direct. These online savings accounts, which Cultured Girl Lizzy wrote about in 2004, basically throw off free money—an astounding 4.15 percent annual percentage yield, to be exact. (By comparison, a basic savings account at your bank typically earns a measly 0.5 percent.) Every step of the enrollment process happens online, and you can log in anytime to transfer money from your checking account to your ING account. Plus, it’s really fun to watch that interest money just magically appear. I guarantee it will be the easiest income you’ve ever earned.