Trippin’ Down Memory Lane
Posted by Midwest Mom | Filed under Midwest Mom
Several years ago, when we were renovating our home, I was listening to a Suze Orman audio book while I painted. Suze asked her audience to relate their earliest money memory. If I remember correctly, she was making the case that our attitudes toward money were shaped by this one event.
One woman told of how her father had promised her a certain allowance. She kept track of how much he owed as the weeks ticked by. When she wanted to buy something, she brought her dad the record she had kept and asked for the money. Dad laughed at how cute that was and scribbled a check on a scrap of notepaper. The woman claimed that for the rest of her life, she never took money seriously.
The stories seemed almost ridiculous. I wondered what tiny portion of each was fact, if any of them were factual at all! But it got me thinking about my earliest money memory…
My best friend and I were showering at my house after swimming. (This was when a house had one bathroom, not one bathroom per person.) On the vanity was a pile of change from my dad’s pockets. No bills, just a large pile of coins. More than you would acquire in a normal day. He must have played cards the night before.
My girlfriend was beside herself. “How long has that been there?” I shrugged. “Will it lay there like that all day?” Shrug. “Won’t any of you kids take it?” No, why would we take it? “Let’s take it!” Uh, no, it’s my dad’s.
This was 35 years ago or more and I remember it clearly. That money could have been dust to me…it was that insignificant. Yet she was galvanized by it. I was 10 or less and I remember being struck by how differently we reacted to the same thing.
Many years later, as an adult, I told the story to two of my three adult siblings. They both shrugged about the coins, too! They said they wouldn’t have noticed them and certainly wouldn’t have helped themselves. We all agreed that a pile of M&Ms would have been in greater danger.
Clearly, I already had some established money attitudes at the time of the coin incident. But I do think Suze might be on to something. As adults, my siblings and I have discussed how differently all four of us handle money. There were no major upheavals in our childhoods and there are only seven years between the oldest and youngest. There’s nothing I can think of to explain the disparities. Are we born this way? Or, as Suze believes, could a single random event form our money personality?
So, c’mon. Any good early money memories to share? Is it just interesting or funny? Or do you feel it had a lasting impact on you?
-mwm
A stay-at-home mom managing the family finances, Midwest Mom is our New Voice from south of the 49th Parallel. Married for 19 years with two boys, 11 and 9, she considers herself “a self-help junkie.”
April 7, 2012 at 11:40 am
This is one of the most interesting posts so far.
April 10, 2012 at 9:50 am
We all had allowances and savings accounts growing up. Every few weeks we would take our tiny bit of money to the bank teller with our bank book. I still have the bank book and the deposits are quite funny looking, $3.62, $4.87. Almost never an even number.
My Dad instilled the importance of savings to us. It worked too; we all still have “emergency” or just plain savings accounts.
My sister recently told me that when she was little she always thought that the bank teller took her money and put it in a place just for her. This is Allison’s money. It goes here. She said she imagined a drawer or a shelf where they kept it for her and she thought she would get the same bills and coins back one day when she made a withdraw.
There was often money laid out in my house as well, mostly on my father’s nightstand. I would never imagine taking it as a child. That was Dad’s money. I had my own money. Which the teller was safely keeping at the bank… just for me.
April 11, 2012 at 6:48 pm
That is really cute! I bet a lot of kids imagine it that way! If only…
April 11, 2012 at 11:44 am
I grew up on a farm, the oldest of five kids. The farm was situated on a junction of two highways, and dad used to cut and bale the hay in the ditches along the farmland. Since this was back in the days of all glass pop and beer bottles, us kids had to go out and pick them so dad wouldn’t break them, wreck a tire, or worse, get broken glass in a bale destined for horse feed! Twice a year we would load up our bottles and make the 70 mile trek to the closest big city (a real treat), cash them in and split the money five ways – even though my youngest brother wasn’t even old enough to do any of the heavy work!! We also got paid two cents per gopher tail – a rather gruesome concept now, but we trapped, killed and turned in those tails to dad. Gophers were quite destructive to the fields, so were considered a disposable nuisance. We got one cent per nail we picked up from the farm yard, another threat to tires. And to round it out, as we got older, us kids hired out to the neighbors in the spring to pick rocks! We got fed very well, worked our butts off, and cleared fields – for $5/day per kid if I remember correctly. As you can see, we worked hard for every penny and did not grow up expecting to have anything handed to us. I am 55 this year, and have one full time job and work another almost full time job, to fill in my spare days… I think next year I need to learn how to relax! I don’t depend on anyone to take care of me, and since my divorce and subsequent venture into the land of the employed, I wonder if my still single status is because I don’t want to share my hard-earned money with anyone? The worst result of my two jobs, and ability to find paying sewing jobs – there is always another paycheque no more than a week away. If I get silly and blow some it doesn’t affect too much, I make sure that all my bills are paid first. I guess I need to do some internal musing – I always pick up change off the ground, but think nothing of blowing $20 on …?
April 11, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Wow! My man thinks kids today are babies about working. He worked like you did. He thinks if you don’t have any kids and you only have one job, you are lazy!
It must be a great feeling to be independent!