Bed Bugs!

In regards to this AP article about Bed Bugs which ran in the Danville Register & Bee the other day:   The article only focused on pesticides to control the little blood sucking pests, but there is another non-checmical alternative.  There’s a store in Roxboro, NC which has an oven specially designed for ‘cooking’ matresses.  It cooks them at 240 degrees for 2 hours effectively killing anything that might be living inside.  It’s located at E-Plus Thrift Flea Market Shop.  Their phone number is (336)599-3438.  It’s only $7.50 per mattress and it can cook pillows too.

Beach Party!

Summer is about to get underway in Danville!  Here’s an announcement that we got in the mail today that deserves to be shared with the community.

From the Piedmont Credit Union inbox:

On Saturday, May 30, 2009 from 5pm to 8pm the Danville Science Center will host a Beach Party by the Dan.  The entire family is invited to a fun-filled evening featuring music by the C. Shells, a musical duo from Virginia Beach.  With a delightful mix of songs and musical styles, the C. Shells will have children of all ages laughing, smiling, and stamping their feet.  Guests will enjoy a summer buffet, beach music, shag dancing and kid’s activities– to support a great Danville resource– the educational programs at the Science Center.

Ticket prices: Children age 4-9:$5; Ages 10-18: $10; Adults: $20; Children 3 and under are free.

My family has benefitted quite alot from visiting the Danville Science Center.  Over the last several years it has really expanded and begun to offer many new programs and exhibits.  Just to say the words “Science Center” causes my kids to celebrate and talk about what they’re going to do and see there.

Recession Killer: The Entrepreneur

Amie Teague, the owner of Piedmont Regional Feeding & Oral-Motor Clinic, is choosing not to participate in the current worldwide recession!  Today she hosted an open house to introduce her company to the community and shout about it’s successes.  VA General Assembly Delegate Danny Marshall was among those in attendance.   He spoke a few minutes about entrepreneurial spirit and the success Amie has had with the clinic even through a time when many businesses are failing.

A few years ago Aime started with just a single employee, herself.  Even then she didn’t get paid but put all the revenues back into the business.  She was beginning to get accustomed to all kinds of bankers and bureaucrats telling her that her endeavors would certainly fail!  None of that seems to have mattered as today the Piedmont Regional Feeding & Oral-Motor Clinic employs 15 full time staff who have come from all over the nation to work.   A major point that Mr. Marshall made was that the clinic’s great success was accomplished without any government assistance or funding!  How can this be in an era of government bailouts and economic stimulus plans?  The answer is simple; Hard work, careful planning, diligence, outstanding customer service, committed empoyees, the drive to suceed, and the unstoppable spirit of a true entrepreneur.   One can see these qualities clearly at the Piedmont Regional Feeding & Oral-Motor Clinic.  The more we all embrace them, the sooner our nation and economy will get back on their feet again.

First Impressions of NetBranch Mobile

NetBranch Mobile has been live for two weeks now.  My first impression is “Wow I love this!”.  I find that I’m using it more often at home than I thought.  I’ll use NetBranch Mobile if the computer is turned off or if my wife is using it.   I’ve used it to quickly pay a bill while sitting at the dinner table or waiting at swim lessons.  I’ve been using it on my Palm TX wherever there’s a wifi connection.  If I had a mobile phone I think I would use it all over the place.

The security features are just as strong as NetBranch because the features are more limited.  NetBranch Mobile cannot create new bills, only pay existing ones.  It can only transfer within your accounts at the credit union.  It is not able to transfer outside of the credit union like our full Online Billpay can.  I like how it doesn’t show any private or personal information on the screen.

The only tip I have for using NetBranch Mobile is this.  Double check your MFA security questions and choose more simple answers for them.    A simple, short one word answer is best.  That makes it a little faster to logon to NetBranch Mobile.  I’m interested to hear what other Piedmont CU NetBranch users think of NetBranch Mobile.  So far I really like it alot!  I may finally decide to ditch my Palm TX get a real mobile phone!

The Danville Home Builders Expo

This past weekend Piedmont CU presented at the Danville Home Builders Expo held at the Institute for Advanced Learning.   Here’s my takeaway from the event.  Most vendors I spoke with seemed a bit disappointed that the crowds were not as big as usual.   However, I thought the level of traffic was good.  It gave me a chance to greet and speak with almost everyone who walked by.   In our business a good relationship is worth more than dollars.  What’s that old credit union slogan?  “People are worth more than money.”  People may not be in the position to buy right now, but if you establish some relationship with them today, then tomorrow they may become one of your best customers.

I also had the chance to meet and speak with several vendors.  There was Steve from Summertime Pool & Spa, David & David from Culligan Water, Karen from Pine Hall Brick, Brad from Security Zone, Liz of Danville Parks & Rec, Durdana from Durdana.com, and the guy from Sound Solutions (sorry I don’t recall your name!).  But the most interesting of the vendors was right next to me.  Piedmont Credit Union was beside Saunders Building Supply.  Saunders is the oldest and sole surviving family owned building supply shop in Danville.  They pride themselves on customer service, flexibility, and going the extra mile for people.  (Sounds a little like Piedmont CU.)  On Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting their owner, Elsie Stanley.  I had heard her described as “tough as nails”, ” a catbird”, and “no nonsense”.  She may be those things in Donald Trump’s board room but here at the expo she was kind as could be and quite the salesperson.  In fact I may be by for some lifetime porch rails or a drain pump for the basement.  She took home my very last back scratcher and a set of Piedmont CU playing cards left over from a previous trade show.   So if you have some building or re-modeling to do check out Saunders Building Supply and say hello to Elsie and the grandkids.

Does anyone know what exactly a “catbird” is?

A Cheaper Date

Save a little money on date night with this coupon from Ruby Tuesday.  It’s says you can buy one entree and get a second entree free.  There are a few other details.  Click here for the coupon. It expires March 24, 2009.

I went to Ruby Tuesday in Danville recently and found it to be very good.

Priceless Financial Advice from SNL on Hulu

One of my favorite new websites is hulu.com.  It’s on-demand TV through your computer.  Recently a friend sent me this clip from an old Saturday Night Live which offers some great personal finance advice!  Here it is:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff

Hulu has hundreds of TV shows, movies, and clips that you can watch any time you want with just a few tiny 15-30 second commercials.  It’s free so it might help save on the cable or satellite bill.  If you are looking for more money saving tips check out the Dave Ramsey Show on hulu.

Thank You Whoever You Are!

Today’s local headline was about fraudulent charges posted against a few of our member’s accounts.  This was related to the breach which also made headlines late yesterday and today.  Heartland Payment Systems has issued a statement about the security breach at www.2008breach.com.  You can read what we said about it here on our main website.  You can also rest assured that there was no breach at the credit union or with any of our vendors. But right now I want to say “Thank You” to the anonymous member who, just 15 minutes after the initial story came out on the Register & Bee website, went online to speak up on our behalf.  Here’s what was said:

“PCU is doing an excellent job of handling this. I had my money back within 1 hour of discovering the fraudulent charges. They also said they are going to call people who have suspicious activity on their account who may not do online banking and find the error.
It’s nice to know when something like this happens that they are going to do everything to make it right for you.”

Thank you!

“Why Save Money?” or “Bad Things Happen In Threes!”

“Bad things happen in threes!”  At least that’s what the refrigerator repairman said.  It all started when we went on vacation to Gatlinburg, TN with my family which lives mostly out of town.  It was a great trip!  We stayed up late playing dominoes(I won rather handily BTW).  We got stuck on a mountainside and had to engineer our way down.  Even the long drive wasn’t bad.  This was one of the best vacations in recent memory.  But when we arrived at home 10pm on New Years Day it all unraveled!

Before I had gotten out of the car my wife says something loudly from the back door.

Link to "Repair a Broken Refrigerator"

Our refrigerator was dead.  Hundreds of dollars worth of food now sat spoiled on the shelves.  On our beautiful wood floors there was an unholy mixture of previously frozen items from the freezer.  The floors had already started to warp from the moisture.

The cleanup lasted well into the night and early morning.  When I was just about done cleaning the floors  I thought about Murphy’s Law, “Anything bad that can happen, will happen.” Then I thought, “This is why I have money in savings.  I need to be an example to my family and the ones I care about to show them how to responsibly cope with little disasters such as this.  Bring it on Murphy!  I’m ready for whatever you can throw at me!” It was about this time that my wife noticed some little bugs in the house.  No problem, they probably came in when I had the doors open dealing with the fridge.  Wrong.  Our Christmas Tree(real tree) had about a thousand little dead bugs lying under it.  We figure they were in the tree and must have prematurely hatched outside of their natural habitat.  A few survived and were now living in our house.

On to round two where we hurriedly took down the decorations and escorted the tree outside!  With all the cleaning and vacuming done that night, one might have thought we had the mayor coming to visit the next day.  But all in all this whole thing was a breeze to cope with because there’s no question of how we are going to pay for the repairs.  The fridge was fixed for $120.  The bugs were no big deal once the tree was removed.  The floors might cost as much as $500 to repair.  Nothing a little savings can’t handle.  Now, taking the repairman’s advice, we’re waiting for Murphy’s third pitch.  Nothing yet, but I’m checking the air in all the tires!  We’re confident that whatever comes next, we, and our savings, will be ready to tackle it.

10 Christmas Songs to Sum Up 2008

While looking through my Christmas music library this afternoon, I thought about how some of these song titles are not only fitting for the holiday season they also seem to sum up this year of financial meltdowns, bailouts, and elections.  So here are my top ten Christmas songs that sum up 2008. Feel free to share your own favorite songs in the comments.

• Don’t Save It All For Christmas Day – Save some for vacation, retirement, college, and other emergencies that are bound to happen.  Or just go and spend it all the day after Thanksgiving and continue living the American nightmare called out-of-control debt!
• Light a Candle – The politicians all say we need to conserve energy.
• Jingle Bell Rock – What misbehaving kids are getting for Christmas this year! (Rocks are  better for the environment than lumps of coal.)
• Away In a Manger – Where people stashed their money when banks started failing.
• I’ll Be Home For Christmas – I’m still recouping from last summers high gas prices.
• Silver Bells – No! Not another precious metals advertisement!
• Silent Night – What you hear when you ask a group of sub-prime lenders “What were you thinking?”
• Here We Come A Caroling… In our private jets and asking for a bailout.
• A Strange Way to Save The World – That’s what we thought about the first bailout. Aww, maybe it will all work out after all?
• All I Want For Christmas is … my 401k back!

Honorable Mention:

• We Three Kings of Orient Are … Making everything in Wal-Mart.  (Hint: Made in China)