Monday, April 24, 2006

Somebody's gotta go back and get a whole shitload o' dimes....

A few years ago a friend of mine suggested that we tax our vices. Spend an hour aimlessly surfing the web? $5 in the tax jar. 30 minutes blown on a computer game? $2. 2 hours in the evening surfing TV channels, but not finding anything worth that wasted time? $5. Her goal was to save up for laser eye surgery. I was saving to pay for my half-pay full-year sabbatical. The funds never did pay for the high ticket item, but it was an easy way to save money to do something constructive with, and somehow attone for the wasted time.

Katie P. on Basic Juice recently suggested a similar way to indulge your palate when it exceeds your means: the "wine fund." I don't have the designated jar she mentioned, but I do have a change cup, so what the hey.

When I called the PP at work to ask where the coin rolls were, he pointed out he had a change cup of his own on his dresser, that I could add it to the mix.

Then you're in that inevitable situation where you're close to a full roll on a few denominations, so then it is time to scrounge through the change pockets on purses, bookbags, and then out to the car to raid the ashtray collection of dimes and quarters.

An hour later: $80.50. Now to decide how to spend it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw that you were taxing your sins, and I thought of this recent NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/22/nyregion/22guilt.html
On the other hand, saving for yourself is way more fun!

Anonymous said...

Clos de Sarpe--good grief, are you going to do it? Let us know.
M & D

Isis said...

We'll see--we have been talking about it, although making sure we can store it well is an issue.

Joe said...

Thanks for the comment about my 3 races! I hope you will find some inspiration in that for your national championships! I have some more parts of that story to write, including how I did in the other 3 races.