Saving My Pennies

Back in August, I was talking with a friend.  She was telling me how she saves money for special things.  At the end of every day she opens her wallet and takes out any $5 bills and stashes them.  It adds up and she’s able to treat herself to special things.

I went home and thought about it.  While $5 is too much for me to stash, I often have $1 bills in my wallet at the end of the day.  I decided I would try her method and see if I could keep out of the stashed cash.

I did.  It worked.  Over the course of four months I stashed $1 every time there was one in my wallet and I remembered to look at the end of the day. I didn’t count it, just stuck it away.  

Last week I counted.

And I had to think.

Hard.

I had originally started putting the cash aside for a tattoo I wanted.  It has been such a crazy year, I had designed a bit of art to commemorate the events.

I was now torn.

Since I had started saving, things had changed.  Christmas wasn't looking so hot, things were tight.

Then good things started to happen.

I got a card in the mail from one of my favorite people.  With a check, to help with Christmas.  Inside she had written “I remember”  It touched me.  I know she had been where I was.

A dear family friend decided to purchase Santa gifts for the kids.  She had extra this season, and has loved our family for 8 years.

Being on the receiving end of help is hard.  Very hard.

I was still torn.

Then I got offered a job stage managing a holiday concert.  2 days of work.  It fit perfectly into my holiday schedule. And the fee will pay for Christmas.

My parents offered to help too, but since I got the Christmas concert, I won’t need it.

And because I don’t need it, I felt okay about using my saved cash for its original purpose. 

So, Sunday I went and got my art done.  It’s different from my other tattoos and I was nervous it wouldn't work, but I adore the art.

It turned out great.  totally wonderful.

I got one on my back and a small one on my wrist.  Doing them at the same time made so much for sense, the small one only took about 10 minutes, and I didn’t need to pay for the setup and equipment, since she was already using it on my back.

Wanna see?

The text around the rose is a quote from Alice - "it sounds uncommon nonsense"

I am happy.