Spending Money

It’s hard to believe that Fatsean turned 11 years old last month.  He is one of the unfortunate kids that has a birthday very close to Christmas and each year I suggest we combine the two big days into one day of gift giving.  He always refuses even after I explain the substantial amount of money we (I) would save.

Sean has never been one to even think about saving money.  When he was just a baby I starting drilling him – “Money is our friend, and we don’t throw our friends away”.    It hasn’t done any good, and as soon as he gets a dollar we have to run uptown for a little bag of Hot Fries or a candy bar.   It doesn’t faze him when my friends tell me “Dust the cobwebs off that old wallet” or “You throw dimes around like they were manhole covers.”   My loving wife likes to say I’m “thrifty”.

Over Christmas and his birthday Sean received a grand total of $225.  I was pretty interested in how he was going to handle this windfall and I knew better than to just hand it over to him and say “Spend away, crazy dude.”  I insisted that $100 of it go directly into his bank account and he could have the rest to splurge on anything he wanted.

Saturday was the big day.  We went to the bank and he walked up to the counter with his checks and bank book and told the teller “I want to deposit $100 and get the rest in cash.  In $5 bills”   She didn’t even bat an eye and as she counted out Sean’s wad I watched him.  His lips moved with every bill she laid down – 5, 10, 15, 20, etc.  A nice thick pile of bills.

Our next stop was to the local Alco store.   He had been harping about the new Madden NFL X-box game and he wanted it dearly.  Earlier he had told me “It’s only $60, plus tax, and that’s not bad at all”, but when  it came time to make the purchase he just couldn’t do it.  “That’s a lot of money” he said.  “Let’s go look at the shirts”.   After strolling through the boys clothes for about 15 minutes he decided there wasn’t anything worth buying and we headed for the toy department.   He couldn’t find anything he really wanted there, but that money was burning a hole in his pocket and he had to buy something – anything.   I knew where we would end up – sporting goods – and Sean finally bought a pair of “awesome” batting gloves.  “Only $3.99, plus tax” he said.

He has managed to keep most of his money.  He very nicely treated us to a pizza with breadsticks the other night and bought his pal Tiger some treats today.   The rest of his bankroll is hidden in his room where nobody can find it.  I checked it this evening and he still had over $50.  I suggested fuel oil for our furnace would be a good purchase, but he just gave me that look and I didn’t even get an answer from him.  But at least I feel there might be some hope for him yet!

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My brother-in-law Roger has moved back into the area and has been looking for a house to buy.  He’s pretty handy and has been checking out foreclosed properties that need some work.    I went with him to look at an abandoned place the other day.  We met the real estate agent and Roger really checked the house out from the foundation to the attic.  I gave him a few of my opinions on improvements & remodeling but spent most of my time chatting with the realtor.   Roger thought he had found a pretty solid little house and wanted to make an offer on it and we all headed to the realtor’s office.

Now think about this from the realtor’s point of view -  You have two men about 50 years of age looking at houses together.   These same two men are discussing improvements, remodeling, decorating, etc.   Neither of these two men are wearing a wedding ring, yet both of them go to the office and the bank together.    So as Roger is filling out the paperwork the realtor says to him “As I was telling your PARTNER earlier..”    For one of the few times in my life I was speechless.   And of course my loving wife was very supportive when I related the story to her.

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We had a big bank robbery here in Mayberry yesterday.  It was quite an event with police cars from the town, county, and state on the scene complete with yellow “DO NOT CROSS” police tape.  It reminded me of the old Arlo Guthrie song “Alice’s Restaurant”

“… being the biggest crime of the last fifty years and everybody wanted to get in the newspaper story about it” 

The Richmond paper had pictures of the robber from the bank’s cameras.  A white guy, about 5′ 7″ and 170 pounds.  He had a hooded sweatshirt pulled over his head and a white scarf around the lower part of his face.  All you could see was his eyes.  

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