3/50 Project and Other Good Ideas

The overpaid deadheads who run the banking system, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve may be trying to restore their credibility but some others who live and work at the lower level are finding new ways to recover their autonomy and their wealth.
One clever idea has been conceived by Cinda Baxter.  She calls it the 3/50 Project.  It is an initiative that encourages consumers to commit to spending fifty dollars a month at three independent local stores ($50 total, not $50 per store).  She is not asking shoppers to stop shopping at chain stores or malls but to balance their spending in ways that maintain the community.  The best approach is to choose three local stores that you would miss if they closed and commit to spending $50 a month between those three businesses.  Click on the link and read more.


Another clever approach is the deal struck between Kohl's, the department store, and the Hospice of Palm Beach County Resale Shop.  Vans from the Resale Shop appear in the parking lot at Kohl's on a designated Saturday.  Peolpe who donate clean, gently used clothing, furniture, accessories, books, etc. are given discounts of 15% & 20% on purchases at Kohl's.


Another innovative idea is to use a credit card for purchases only every other month.  Or, to put it differently, to use your credit card for purchases six months a year only.  Use cash or debit card in the other six months.  If even one third of the population did this, it would send a message to the banks that might freeze more than their assets.