Clean Your Mailbox, Save the World
Getting the mail used to be one of the most exciting activities on the daily schedule of a household–letters from old friends, packages you spent 4-6 weeks building up anticipation for, maybe even your newest Netflix DVD selections for you younger old people–now if it’s not an overnight delivery from Amazon, the typical mailbox is full of glorified birdcage lining.
The situation is even sadder if you think about how many trees died so people could send you trash by post.
If you’re sick of constantly throwing out catalogs and other junk mail, there is a way you can opt out for good while making the right choice for our planet in the process.CatalogChoice allows you to quickly remove your name and address from subscriber lists for a wide range of mail litter…you can even search for a specific catalog to make things even easier.
Keep Your Head Up
You know, in 10 years I think we’re going to look back and see smartphone addiction as an epidemic issue, the same way we collectively decided that those old-school aerosol spray cans were convenient but were slowly destroying the world.
You don’t even have to be so dramatic as to google up the injury statistics for texting and walking or mean-spirited enough to cue up this classic in which a woman is so enthralled with her tiny screen that she forgets how to human…just consider that the smartphone is the first thing most people see in the morning and the last they see at night.
If you’ve thought to yourself that you might be using yours a bit too much, the first thing you you understand is that it’s not your fault: they design these things to be as addictive as gambling. The next thing you should understand is that there are steps you can take…this Lifehacker piece goes into detail about being present in the world around you more often.
Access Anonymous
Speaking of smartphones, for years the prices of voice and data plans have been steadily rising, and since the biggest names in wireless have plenty of shareholders to satisfy I wouldn’t hold my breath and wait for that to change. Even worse, the basic plan almost never offers what you need, so you can end up paying a lot more than the TV told you.
If you’re looking for a simpler and less expensive option to keep you connected, maybe it’s time to think about switching to GoogleFi.
GoogleFi gives you access to 3 nationwide networks for great coverage as well as free international roaming practically all over the world. $20 monthly gets you unlimited talk and text, then you pay 10 bucks for every GB of data you use during the billing period up to 6GB, after which data is on the house. That’s a hard ceiling of $80 for an unlimited plan…pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
The Last Word
Well, that’s about all the tricks in my bag on this Tuesday! Thanks as always for making space in your weekly launch sequence for “Brad’s Blog,” I know these might be the first free moments you have at work after plowing through yesterday’s backlog, so I always appreciate you spending them with me.
I’ll be right back around in a few days’ time, but until then if you want to chat or have a compelling contribution for the newsletter, drop me a line click HERE!