by Beks
I was paid $100 for some accounting work I was able to do at night. Rather than deposit the funds, I decided to set it aside as grocery money. I try not to keep money in our house since I’m terrified of thieves and think that somehow they will know I’m stashing cash.
I asked my husband where I should hide the money and he looked at me quizzically.
‘Hide it? It’s one hundred bucks, not the Hope Diamond honey. Just put it on the desk’ he said.
‘No!’ I screamed. ‘Can you hide it in a DVD?’ I begged.
‘Sure’ he laughed (sadly, I’m used to him laughing at me).
A few minutes later I asked him which DVD he put the money in. ‘From Justin to Kelly – because no one on God’s green earth would steal that film’ he said.
Gee hon… thanks.
It’s funny how my views about money have continued to change over the last year. Last summer, I would have spent that $100 on a date night or a cute pair of shoes. Now, I can stretch that same $100 into two or three weeks of groceries.
At this time in my life, that $100 IS the Hope Diamond.
Beks is a full-time government employee who enjoys blogging late into the night after her four kids have gone to sleep. She’s been married to Chris, her college sweetheart, for 15 years. In 2017, after 3 long years working the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps, they paid off more than $70K and became debt free. When she’s not working or blogging, she’s exploring the great outdoors.
The most amusing part of this is not that you hid the hundred bucks, but that you freely admitted owning a copy of From Justin to Kelly.
It’s the definition of REALITY. I do the same thing. Water, tap water is my main beverage. Save money anywhere I can.
John DeFlumeri Jr
Glad to see your husband is hasn’t lost his sense of humor!
I agree with Money Beagle…thanks for the laugh!
As far as hiding the money is concerned, I had $150 sitting around to pay the tree guy doing some work for us. We found out yesterday that the house behind us got robbed of 10K…needless to say my piddly amount of money went straight into the safe last night. I can’t imagine having 10K sitting around……
Beks,
The extra $100 might take the stress off the extras needed for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve and Christmas meals. I am sure you will be shopping wisely.
By the way, did Tricia send in an update this month? I don’t see it. She had been posting something at the end of each month.
It’s a great idea to squirrel away cash. The hard part is not to use it. I would agree with your husband that no one would ever look for it in that DVD. Gotta say that the reality is you saved $80, as you have to consider that you probably paid $20 for that movie. 🙂
I can sure relate to you… these days I try to stretch my dollar also. I shop at dollar store now… so that $100 will go a long way shopping for groceries and other stuff. I use bulk of my money to pay down my debt.
I know just how you feel : ) And yes your husband is right, nobody would steal that movie!
LOL! Money Beagle’s comment is spot on. You’re brave for admitting you own that dvd!
I play poker fairly often. I have a budgeted amount of money that is just for poker (and doesn’t get added to so when/if I go broke, that is the end). From time to time, I like to play live. Well, once I move the money to cash to go play, I have a “lot” of cash on hand until I put it back. Okay, it’s a lot for me… but having a few hundred laying about can bug me. I’ve tried a dozen different ways of keeping it around the house. From just tossing it in a drawer to putting it in the dust jacket on a book that I have shelved.
I have a lock-box but it’s light and not secured to anything. If I ever get robbed, I am certain that it will be one of the things to go. So I never keep money in there. If someone takes it they’ll end up with a bunch of college related souvenirs… including about a hundred very funny/embarrassing photos. But nothing of value unless I try and run for public office. 😉
I can completely understand the worry about cash laying around the house. I’m also a big “natural air” person and keep windows and doors open. So it wouldn’t be hard for the money to walk away if someone was quick and quiet while I was in a different room. I think the DVD thing is a fairly good spot. If nothing else, it is far enough away to discourage opportunists with sticky fingers — a larger worry for me than determined robbers.
Always a good idea to keep some emergency cash around. We keep several hundred in 1’s and 5’s at the house. When natural disasters occur like katrina there is no power for atm’s or debit cards. It could be days or weeks to get access to your cash. Or even if you’re running late & can’t stop at the atm we can dig into the cash and replace at a convenient time. Of course we do have a very good safe so I don’t have to worry about burglery.
If you had little kids, I would advise you to give it to them. They are REALLY good at hiding money so that no one can EVER find it :-)!
Sandy – She hasn’t yet but I’m sure she will.
Money Beagle, Family Man, Mike – I know! I should NEVER admit to owning that movie.. but I love it! I got it for $5 at Walmart a few years ago.
I hide my cash in my Suze Orman books in my bookcase.