Mom gave me specific directions to her secret stash of cash.
Go upstairs. Open the top drawer on the left. In the right-hand corner, take $5
from the envelope marked “dry cleaners” emphasizing it had to be the “dry cleaners”
envelope.
By day, mom was a bookkeeper and she worked in ledgers at
work. Back at home, spare cash was stashed in her secret envelopes.
Like the squirrel that would store up nuts for winter, mom
would store up unspent money to be used for her “wants”. My parents didn’t
discuss money with their Little Helpers. We learned by observation, some of us
were better observers than others.
As I became the money manager of my household, the envelope
system would be too much of a temptation for me. Instead, I used my old high
school loose leaf binder to make my bookkeeping ledger.
Every paycheck was assigned to a variety of accounts. Any
unspent money at the end of the month was squirreled away for another day.
Mother’s Little Helpers were taught about managing money as they had jobs to
support their “needs”, which I perceived as their “wants”.
I tried a Mason jar approach for their savings. It was in my
dresser too. To this day, in the middle drawer on the right side of the dresser
rests an empty Mason jar. Someday, it will be passed down so the great
grandchildren of my mother will learn about the habits of a squirrel.
SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: If you have any money left over
in your accounts at the end of the month, zero out your accounts and transfer
the money to your own squirrel fund. Amounts of $2 will grow to $5 and eventually
you will have money to spend on your own “wants” or have a pool of money for an
unexpected rainy day emergency!
Some favorite uses of Mason Jars
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