A Penny A Day Keeps The Bill Collector Away

Ah, so we've made it to entry number two. Actually, I was going to skip today, but, obviously, someone somewhere out in computerland is reading this, so here I am. Anyway, to the subject at hand. Budgeting, my best friend, where would I be without you? --Oh yeah, living on the street!

There's something I neglected to mention in the last blog, another reason why I have to budget is because I have a notoriously bad memory. My mother used to say, "If your head wasn't screwed on, you'd lose that too." --I suppose she's right. Anyway, where were we?

Budgeting is basically a requirement in life, if you don't like financial surprises and don't want to kick yourself in the butt later. Doesn't matter if you make $20,000 or $20,000,000 a year, the difference in zeroes are of no consequence. Any kind of savings has value. Hence, a major rule, avoid fees whenever possible. Sometimes they can't be avoided, and you must cough up the cash. But consider this, if you budget, meaning pay your bills on time whenever possible, if not, early, those two or ten dollars stay in your pocket where they belong.

Then imagine something else. --Say for example there were no checking accounts, no internet, no credit or debit cards, and every transaction you had to make was cash only? Then, on top of that, the bill collector personally came to your door and all your bills had to be paid to him, AND there was only one company? --And Mr. Bill Payment Guy says, "By the way, since you didn't pay us last week, you owe us the total bill and an extra twenty-five dollars to keep all of your services."

Okay, so that's a little on the extreme side, point made. In reality, we often willingly chuck over extra money all the time without a second thought, mainly because it's on paper, and we know we can pay it later. The weight of it doesn't really sink in as much as it would in my hypothetical situation or if it had to be paid in cash. Many times, we don't pay our bills on time or pay partial amounts so we can go out Saturday night, and wonder where those extra bucks went so fast, that's where. It goes into the pockets of multimillion and multibillion dollar companies, which only amounts as a few cents to them.

Then there's another related item of wasted cash, change, --that's right, change. By now, you've probably figured I'm one of those people who pick change up off the ground. And ding-ding-ding, that's right, I sure do! Long as it's not laying in something no more gross than mud, I will pick it up. Call me crazy if you want to, but change still spends.

I find it nearly every time I take a walk, regardless if I've walked the same route numerous times. People actually throwing it on the ground is a major pet-peeve of mine. Yes, change can be cumbersome, noisy, ugly and even frustrating to search for at the bottom of your purse or center console. --But it is money every day of the week.

So let's say you can't stand the sight of it. Okay, get an opaque jar or tin to throw it in, and when you want to get rid of it, just throw it in the jar. When it gets full, don't even bother, have your kids roll it up for you. Don't have kids, or they're not old enough? Find someone else to roll them up for you, or if you're lucky enough, maybe there's a counting machine at your bank. There are very few that still have these machines, but some do.

Maybe you're thinking, "I'll take it to Coinstar." --Nope, not a good idea. Why? Because they charge you like 7% and most of them require you to spend it online. Guess what? Most people don't, and that's what they're betting on, that's how they profit. Simply find someone who'll do it for you, out of five people, probably less, you'll find someone willing to do it for the fun of it. Yes, I said fun, some people are like me, and actually like counting money, even if it's not theirs.

Yeah it sounds like a hassle, but it's not. Why do I know this, because I was a waitress for two years, ( apparently not upscale ). I hated taking a load of change whenever I made deposits at the bank since back then I didn't have the time or patience. So, I started throwing my change into a big plastic novelty Pepsi bottle.

Then, whenever it looked like I had over $30, I'd roll them up all at once, and deposit them along with my check and tips. Funny thing is, before doing that, I'd never realized that it was that much. I had devalued it simply because it was change. Then I learned small amounts can add up quite quickly, same with earning interest. And I'm willing to bet that the haves pay much more attention to the small cents then the have nots.


Till next time...