Think Outside The Piggy Bank

Monday's money question 7

What is your very first memory of money?

I'll let you think about that while I dig deep into my own memory bank.

My first memory? Well, I must have been about six, and I've never admitted this to anyone before, but I climbed onto a kitchen counter, stole a coin from a jar in the cupboard (nickel or dime probably), and bought some candy at the store down the block. Isn't that terrible? My first memory of money involves criminal activity! Makes you wonder how (or if) that affected my relationship with money at all, snort. How about you?

Dr. Seuss -- I love my job!

Have posted this poem elsewhere before, but always get a chuckle rereading it, so thought I'd share it here. And I wonder how many people actually DO love their jobs. I'm sure we've all heard the stats on how many people hate their jobs, which, considering how many hours they consume, is really sad. But what would a job worthy of loving look like anyway? Interesting and challenging but not unduly stressful, compensated fairly, and good people to work both with, and for. Hmmm, I've had some of these elements in all jobs, but not all elements in even one job. Too much to ask? Ah, one of these days I'll figure out what work would suit me best. Unless I hit retirement age first, snort.

How about you? Have you ever had paid work that you loved? Or figured out what elements you need in order to love a job? Or is loving your job a luxury these days that most people just can't afford? What do you think?

Monday's money question 6

In honour of Labour Day, let me ask you this: what is your favourite labour-saving device?

Not sure what mine is, but it's definitely not dishwashers. I've never had one, and I've never liked them, and given the fact that my parents use theirs as storage space, I can only conclude that they don't really like theirs either. Half the time I didn't even use the one at work when I looked after twenty residents at three meals and two snack-times, because I found it quicker and easier to do it by hand. Plus quieter. And it's a Zen thing for me I suspect, as I like the idea of only being responsible for getting a plate clean in the moment that I'm washing it. (Have to admit that I only wash and let everything air-dry. I also make a point of doing the dishes at least once a day before I go to bed, so that I wake up with a clean slate, um, counter.) Now I do understand that a busy family with working parents might really want and need their dishwasher, but one or two people?

That was my thought anyway as I saw a counter-top dishwasher in the Canadian Tire flyer this week. Obviously, being able to stand on a counter, it's really tiny, and of course that means you can only do a few dishes at a time. Which then begs the question; why not do them by hand? It would save not only time, but also hydro, and at $250, a fair bit of money. Well, folks, I was going to include a couple of money-saving tips gleaned from my house-cleaning days, but hey, I think I've laboured enough on a weekend when you're not even supposed to labour, so I'll leave it for now.

(pssst, but I'll give you a hint: avoid stainless steel!)

Monday's money question 5

What's the most ridiculous time-saving feature you've run across?

For a while, pre-cut cheese topped my list, as I couldn't figure out why anyone would pay Kraft an extra dollar for this questionable service. "We cut the cheese, so you don't have to." Um, hello? For a few seconds worth of time I'll cut my own cheese thank you very much. Well, not since I turned vegan, but you know what I mean.

Now there's something else topping the list that really made me shake my head. I swear I'm not making this up, but Canadian Tire sells slippers that dust while you walk. Yes, dust! Touted as a comfortable way to dust, these slippers have special bottoms that attract and hold debris. Can you imagine? First--no, never mind, there are just so many things wrong with this scenario that I'm not even going to start, snort. Now excuse me while I go shake my head some more.

update III

In one of the comments to my 'money on the floor' post, a reader asked me if I had checked the sofa for change as well, and because I always like to make a short story long, snort, here is my answer. I have found lots of change in sofas (although never any bills), along with the usual pens, Kleenex, candy bar wrappers and remnants of almost every kind of snack food imaginable. Rolled up socks also camped out in sofas on a regular basis, but the one item that gave me greatest pause in my cleaning career was bras. Yep, brassieres. All squished and tangled up and lonely for their owner no doubt. So I asked the offending client why I kept finding bras in her couch (imagining almost enviously a love life much more active and fun than mine, LOL), but apparently she only flung them off because of the heat! Now this I could understand because who wants breasts trapped and swimming in sweat, but down the sofa?! And, I wasn't even able to tell her to go get a hamper (even though that sounds way more lame than telling someone to go get a room) because she had at least three. So yes, I have checked for change, and so much more. ;)

update II

I liked how the article I mentioned in update I's post also emphasized the importance of being a good customer, because really, manners is a two-way street and as much as I might get annoyed with rude cashiers, theirs is a job I wouldn't want for myself on any terms. Being on my feet as well for most of my shifts I can tell you how tiring it is, and the term "retail feet" certainly got coined for good reason. I'm lucky too in that I still get to walk around a fair bit in my job, and am fairly sure that if I were stuck behind some cash machine with rude or condescending customers who don't care if they're loading 25 items onto an express lane or not, then I might not be all that polite either. So I make it a point of trying to be fairly pleasant if I can.

And to be honest I think that is something that the residents of the group home where I work on weekends reinforced for me as well. I was serving a meal one day when one of them asked me if anyone had ever told me how friendly I was, and I replied (indignantly almost because I DO have a reputation as an introverted curmudgeon to protect after all, snort) "No!" (which actually was the truth no matter how fairly nice a person I may consider myself to be), but it made me realize more fully how my interaction style can have a direct impact. From that day on I made a point to try to be cheerful and polite (without being friendly in that forced false kind of way) even when I have to reprimand them for something. And I think it's made a difference. Although even if it hadn't, everyone still deserves respect regardless of the situation.

But what I really meant to tell you before I started rambling on is that being friendly and polite can also pay off. A few weeks ago I was surprised to see that my Internet bill had gone up by two dollars. I couldn't really figure out why as I was on a contract that hadn't yet expired so I decided to find out what had happened. I called the company (who is also my telephone service provider) and politely explained why I was calling. It was a late Friday afternoon and at one point I said to the service rep that she must be looking forward to the weekend coming up and that somehow got us talking about our shifts and jobs in general. In the meantime she had spotted the problem and rectified the situation saying I'd get a credit for the difference and that my monthly Internet bill would continue at the same rate. I thanked her, wished her a good weekend, and went back to what I was doing. Well guess what? I got my MasterCard bill the other day and it looks like I got credit for the whole month instead of just the difference! All for doing what we should do anyway -- be polite and courteous to each other. So there you go. Being nice even pays cash sometimes. ;)

update I

Wouldn't you know it? As I was writing my last post, Monday's money question 4, an MSN personal finance article was floating around without my being aware of it. A shame really, as it talked about the same thing I was--rude cashiers! You can read it here, and discover four more ways customers get irritated. :)

Monday's money question 4

Okay, call me Maxine if you like, snort, but I find it annoying when a clerk in a grocery store or some other retail establishment is busy gabbing with the next cashier as they're doing my transaction. Half the time I feel like waving and saying "hello, over here!" and I'm not even sure why as it's not as if I want to be the center of attention as such. Maybe it's more that I feel they're being rude as they're discussing lord knows what, and should be a little more respectful as I hand over my hard-earned cash. Needless to say I'm not too crazy about cell phones being used everywhere either. I mean, why do I have to overhear your conversation while I grocery shop? You really can't wait until you get back home? Or at least back in your car? Grrrr.

Anyone else feel this way?

Monday's money question 3

Do you know your credit score?

I have to admit that I don't, although I plan on changing that. I've been assuming for a long time now that my score is probably just fine, but I'd like to know for sure. And to be honest I don't know enough about credit scores; what they mean, and what impact they have, so would like to learn more. For example, I'd always thought that having lots of credit available would be a good thing, but apparently, that isn't always the case.

I can get credit reports from TransUnion or Equifax online (today!), but will mail in a written request instead. It takes longer when you do it that way, but I don't mind because why pay when you can get it for free? In the meantime I took this credit survey that gives you your potential credit score range by answering ten quick questions. My range was between 750 and 820 (out of 850?), which I believe is good, as the higher the number, the lower risk you are to creditors. I think. Still, I'd like an official report!

Monday's money question 2

In response to my what is money anyway? post, a friend commented on another site and asked me:

1. what does money mean?
2. what does money mean to you?

Both good questions, and because I couldn't come up with intelligent, succinct (and possibly amusing) answers right away, I mentally filed them under the "reply when thinking cap is found" category. But the truth is that these simple looking enough questions are bigger than they appear, and one of the reasons I started this blog. The dictionary definitions of money in that post I wrote struck me as being dull and dry and lifeless. I mean they practically put me to sleep as I was writing them, so I can well imagine what it would have been like reading them. Where is the emotion I thought? The excitement, and energy and pizzazz? Because really, money CAN be pretty exciting, and if it's a major source of fighting for couples, and possibly more taboo than talking about sex (do you, like me, get a bit riled when someone straight out asks what something cost you?), then it's got to be more than what my dictionary failed to allude to.

But I still haven't answered the above questions even though I did find said cap. And that's because various posts on this blog will be my attempt to explore and find those answers. All I know for sure right now is that my relationship with money is an ambivalent one: I'm not particularly good at making it (although I excel in stretching it), tend to be suspicious of those who are or want to be rich, am wondering if I could be a poverty addict as I'm comfortable being poor (poverty being relative of course), am sometimes resentful at having to support myself (completely unreasonable I know), and am downright fascinated by how money snakes through all of our lives relatively unexamined. Where was the course The Meaning of Money that I certainly would have signed up for in school?

So bear with me, my friend, as I work my way towards those elusive and hard to pin down answers. And what about you? Have you figured it out? How would you respond to those questions? Post here if you like!