Friday Finance Followers - The History of Daylight Savings Time Edition

As we all prepare to fall back on Sunday morning I start to wonder what is this daylight savings time all about. I started doing a little digging and was surprised by what I found.

Daylight savings time was initially inherent to how time was tracked. People would track time based on the position of the sun and there for time changed daily. During slightly more modern times Benjamin Franklin, while he was working as a liason to France, suggested the people of Paris could save on candles by rising earlier and using the morning sun. Apparently the Parisians had a habit of sleeping until noon. The article itself was written more as a satire.

The theory was seriously pushed by a Brit named William Willet. He lobbied for Britain to advance the clocks 20 minutes for four Sundays in September. The law was eventually enacted amid much opposition. This set the basis for what we now know as Daylight savings time. Other parts of the world refer to it as Summer Time which just makes me think of Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff.

So don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour this weekend or you may be late to work on Monday. If you want to lose another hour this weekend check out these posts submitted by the lucky few who follow me on twitter.

@FiscalGeek reminds us all that personal finance doesn’t absolve us of our personal responsibility. This is a huge thing for me. As an Ex-debt collector I always find it interesting how everyone hates on bill collectors. Yes they can be shady but everyone seems to lose sight of the fact that they OWE money to the company. You took on the debt, you now have to repay it.

@Josh_Smith wants us to make sure we know what to max out our credit cards on when the zombies arrive. You definitely need a shotgun and a bat, it just wouldn’t be a zombie flick without them.

@ChristianPF gives us 4 ways to pay your mortgage off early. I think everyone reading my blog should contribute to paying off my mortgage today. Seriously if all six of you just contribute $38,334.00 we can get this thing knocked out by Monday. Seriously though these are good tips, and if you are still hungry for more check out my analysis of how to pay your mortgage off early.

@MoneyEnergy presents us with reasons why we shouldn’t go to grad school. Missing from this list is the reason I don’t go, because I am too dumb to get in. There are certainly some interesting views on this topic and it was a great read.

@NoDebtPlan who was equally upset with the performance of a kicker last weekend explains how to go about closing your old bank accounts. I can’t remember the last time I tried to close a bank account, I just seem to keep them laying in wait in case I get more than the FDIC insured limit and need some place to keep it.