By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2011-03-18 19:27:47 | Word Count: 664
We shop. That’s just what we do. Whether we are taking a trip to the grocery store, stopping off to get a little gas, picking up a shirt or purchasing a new pair of shoes, at some point or another we are all shoppers. If you tend to be an impulse buyer, like myself, you know all too well the feeling of walking into a store and walking out with something you don’t need, will never use so it will likely go to waste. Come on, admit it. The feeling of guilt and excess can’t be overlooked when you open your pantry to notice that the box of chocolate Pop Tarts you picked up on impulse from the store about a month ago is still sitting there untouched. Or the pair of shoes that you just had to have when walking through the mall have yet to be worn. Third world countries are starving while these pop tarts are just sitting here, you think. I bet a homeless would’ve loved the $50 is took to be those shoes, the thoughts continue to nag. Well, what if you found a way to relieve yourself of the guilt of impulse buying? What if impulse buying (or buying anything for that matter) were a great thing? What would you do? I’d know what I’d do; I’d look for my check card.
How will your purchases (even the impulsive ones) be a good thing, you wonder? The answer: Swipegood.com. Swipegood.com is launching an initiative called Smartgiving. Smartgiving allows for spending habits to far surpasses our self serving whims and finally do something that can be beneficial to those less fortunate. This service streamlines charitable donations from you based on your spending habits. It’s simple. You sign up your credit card and when your card is swiped Swipegood.com will round all of your purchases to the nearest dollar and allow you to donate the difference to the charity of your choice. If you don’t have a specific charity that you wish to donate to Swipegood will track your spending habits and donate accordingly. For example, if you are buying groceries Swipegood will issue your donation feed the homeless. If you buy gas, Swipegood will donate to environmental causes. Swipegood currently offers the ability to donate between 5 different categories including healthcare, education, home, food and nature. According to Swipegood co-founder Steli Efti “The idea came about because many of our users simply didn’t know which charity to donate to which lead to many people dropping out of the signup process although they wanted to give.”
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With Swipegood’s seamless method of donating the hesitation to donate simply because we don’t know to whom and how to donate will now be eliminated. If you are a user who currently doesn’t know who to donate to but may eventually find a preferred charity, you can always turn off the SmartGiving feature on Swipegood. If I’ve come across nothing else worth signing for in the past year, this is it.
Imagine that, every time you get, you give. Your lifestyle is finally starting to pay off. Smile.
