Will the Coin Cause More Spending?

My mind has been absolutely blown by Coin, the electronic credit card that allows you to load all of your cards onto it, and then select which one you want to charge it to by pressing a button. Am I not making sense? Watch this video:

I imagine some day I will tell my children I used to have to lug all 4 of my credit and debit cards around with me when I was growing up. They will think it is ridiculous, similarly to how I think it is ridiculous people used to ride the subway using coins.

My only concern with this Coin product is that I will spend more money.  I recently tried a little money saving experiment due to my full time graduate student budget. When I decided to become a full time student in September, I thought for sure my monthly credit card spending would go down. After all, I would have time to buy affordable groceries at Trader Joe's, I would not be paying to go out to lunch most days like I did at work, having class every night would prevent me from going out for dinner and drinks with friends, and having class Friday night and Saturday morning would really slow down my social life. What on earth would I have to spend money on?

Well, I have no idea, but the first two months my credit card bill was similar to when I was working and had a paycheck. Then, one of my professors brought up that he only pays in cash because it is proven that you spend less if you do so. I had read about this in a few sources, and figured I would put it to the test.

And it's entirely accurate. I was much more cautious with my money, deprived myself of a lot more unnecessary luxuries, and the amounts leaving my checking account each month for cash deposits and to pay credit card bills were a lot less.

I'm sold on using cash for almost everything, despite all points and rewards of my credit card. My hypothesis is that Coin will be successful because it is convenient and because it will encourage more spending. Not to mention it is easier and quicker to use than any sort of mobile wallet or payment application.

Possibly the best feature, in my opinion, is that if you get too far from your Coin, you will be alerted on your phone. Coin uses a low powered blue tooth signal so it knows when your phone is far away from you. So, there is no reason to worry you will lose all of your credit cards at once.  I'm not going to lie, I'm dying to try it out.

And, perhaps it will save me money because I will have less of a desire to buy new, fun wallets all the time as I won't have as much to carry!

Kindle Takeover

In my Mobile Media Management course a few weeks ago, I was the only one in the classroom who did not own a tablet. Many were shocked to discover this, but they also did not know about my lifelong obsession with books, and my dream of someday having my own library in my house. How am I going to build my library collection with all electronic books? I wouldn't be able to, so I've kept on buying physical books (and, for the record, so do many girls in my book club, so I know I'm not alone).

But I do love change. And technology. So it is sort of absurd I do not have a tablet, I will agree.

With Amazon's recent announcement about Amazon Source, a program that allows Kindle's to be sold  in bookstores, I am starting to wonder if the death of the indie bookstore will come sooner in my life than I expected... and maybe it's time to get a tablet and start living in 2013 (almost 2014).

Not having a tablet is sort of a choice (and sort of because I pay expensive NYU grad school tuition). I have a MacBook Air, which is super light so I have no problem carrying it with me wherever I go,  I have an iPhone for staying connected on the go, and the used books I buy on Amazon are cheaper than the tablet versions.

Also, I'm sort of overwhelmed about the choices. I love Apple products, so the iPad seems like a great choice, but at heart I am a book lover and the Kindle Fire seems to be calling my name. Instead of choosing, I just don't choose and therefore, am tablet-less.

I have a ridiculous fear that a tablet reader will for some reason not provide me the same joy as a physical book. For me, reading has always been my escape. I understood what it was like to have sisters by reading one of my all time favorites, Little Women. I got an insider peek at what it was like to be married to one of the most hated American Presidents through Laura Bush's Memoir, and what it was like to be a teenager and having an affair with one of America's most popular Presidents, JFK. I fell in love with old New York through Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence and my fear is that for some strange reason, the experience on a tablet will not be the same.

Call me crazy. I know this is ridiculous. I see a tablet in my future. I will let you know how it goes.