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| photo credit: Jill Clardy via photopin cc |
The laundry machine pays me, does it pay you too? Really, it does. For years I have put clothes in the drum and
at the end of the cycle I have anything from a few pennies to a few
dollars. My husband says I should be
ashamed for laundering money like that and my kids just wander around the house
hopelessly looking for that dollar they knew they had put in their pockets. My laundry “tips” go into a large fishbowl we
have in our kitchen. From there I dig
out money for an occasional coffee, water at the gym, last minute popcorn money
for school, or anything else that the family may need spare change for.
The other day I cleaned my desk (it took 6 hours, sigh)
and I found my old bank that said “Shoe Fund” on it. This cute little ceramic bank was given to me
years ago by a friend who knew I have a passion for shoes. It was a great birth day present and for
years I have put the spare change that makes its way onto my desk into the
little bank. That is when it hit
me. I should really turn in my shoe fund
for a genealogy fund.
Isn’t that a great idea?
I have been walking around the house patting myself on the back while thanking
my kids for their contribution to my genealogy obsession. However, a fishbowl just wasn’t okay anymore.
It is big and anyone could take money
out of it. I needed to dress up a new bank and let people know exactly what they
were helping mommy pay for. Can you just
imagine the eye rolls?
Thankfully my eldest son just outgrew his shoes, again,
in only four months, so I had a fresh shoe box at my disposal. I know, a shoe-box, kind of overkill isn't it? But you use what you can find. So, that along with some construction paper and I had
a brand new money collection device. It
even has a prominent position on my genealogy bookshelf within reach of anyone
who wants to contribute.
My youngest told me that I wasn’t allowed to have a money
box (cute name huh) without knowing what my goal is and what I am going to do
with it. (Unlike him who gathers loose
change like an obsessed hoarder carrying it to his piggy bank to listen to his
precious clinking around in it) However, I knew he had a point. What will I do with my laundry tips? How will I save and how will I spend it?
My initial list consisted of books, supplies, and dues which
sounded all good. Then, it struck
me. I really, REALLY, want to go to the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)
next year and what a better thing to do than start now to save up for all the
fees to pay for me to go. Nothing like a
goal to make you squirrel your (and your family’s) pennies away is there?
So....good choice? Do you think there is something else I should save up for too. RootsTech is up there on my list, but I can't drive to it like I could GRIP. A flip-pal is still on my want list as well. I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts.
So....good choice? Do you think there is something else I should save up for too. RootsTech is up there on my list, but I can't drive to it like I could GRIP. A flip-pal is still on my want list as well. I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts.
