My Little Purple Piggy...

Alright, I'm back from my downer yesterday about my underearning. My little purple piggy bank is getting fat (but not yet ready for the slaughter). I am really quite pleasantly surprised at how those little pockets of cash here and there add up. Plus it's just plain fun. I have no idea what, if anything, I'll do with the innerds of my little piggy, which is probably a good thing. Maybe we'll put it towards the principal of our mortgage, or in our kiddo's college account, or maybe we'll just let it sit there collecting heaps of compound interest (haha). But I've grown to love my little trips to the bank with my three bucks here and my $1.72 there. The tellers puzzled faces be damned. And there's still a little pile of Euros from our trip to Spain several years ago that I need to cash in.

My experiment with the Examiner is not quite going so well. I've posted three articles so far and netted about $.90. I have to make it to $25 to even cash out, which probably means writing, oh, about 750 more articles. But hey, it's given me an excuse to write, and maybe some clips for my "portfolio." And it's been fun, which writing isn't always. And fun is something I can always use more of. Shameless self-promotion alert: if you click here or here , you can read about my fab friend Maggie and her Nia classes. And help me get to that $25 payout before I'm too old to drive myself to the bank.

Tryin' it

This month, I'm trying something new as an experiment-- the envelope system. Pretty fancy, eh? Basically it just means that each week I'm taking my grocery budget out in cash, stuffing it in an envelope, and when it's gone-- if it's gone-- that's it for the week. I'm curious from a psychological angle if this will change my spending at all-- actually exchanging cash for goods instead of just swiping the old card through the credit card machine and voila! I get my groceries.

So far it hasn't affected my spending but it's definitely making me anxious. For one thing, I, sadly, had to call my bank to find out my pin number so I could withdraw said cash. That's how little I generally use cash-- I don't even know how to get it. When I called the bank, I could tell Banky Bryan was trying to supress his shock that I didn't know my pin number and hide it under his thick cloak of banky telephone professionalism.

I managed to procure my pin number though, and hit the ATM right before I hit Shaws. And was quickly reminded why I don't like to carry cash. I lose things. Phones, money, babies. Okay, the baby thing was just a nightmare but it was vivid! It wasn't long before, while scouring Shaws for Izze sparkling drinks (they're in the Wild Harvest section, and not in one of the eight other places that Shaws stores their drinks), my fresh new wad of cash was lying in the pasta aisle. Fortunately I too was in the pasta aisle and retrieved my cash quickly, but it made me anxious.

Since then, every place I go where I've had to leave my coat (which is where I store my grocery money currently) somewhere, I come back to it afterwards, eyeing everyone suspiciously like they'd stolen my grocery money. As soon as I can, I surrepticiously count it to make sure it's all there. Having cash on my person makes me feel like an old rich dude who thinks the hired help, and everyone else, is out for his goods. And I'm neurotic enough without this added pressure.

But press on I must, for that's what experiments are for. And April can't come quick enough.