April 04th, 2017

Missing:  The Text from Yesterday's Blog
Last seen in the presence of Piggy.  Full face and profile photos above.

I have no proof that Piggy is responsible for the disappearance but the circumstances are awfully suspicious.  And pigs are known to be greedy and rather indiscriminate eaters....that's all I'm saying.

A totally unfair accusation.  Piggy has been keeping my spare change safe since 2002. Before Piggy was in my life, I used an old Cool Whip container with a slit cut into the top.  Yup, I am a saver.  I have no problem admitting that I am cheap.  Tim would prefer that I say that I am frugal.

It's a family trait.  My parents were raised during the Great Depression so they lived it: saving up, fixing it and doing without.  They passed it on to us.   My dad in particular was known for his prudent ways.  One of the phrases I associate with him is, "It was such a deal."  By way of example: When we lived in Connecticut, not far from our house was a huge railroad salvage store, it was one of his favourite places to shop.  He once bought a black leather jacket there. It was a lovely piece marred only by a big slash.  It appeared as if maybe it was on the top of a package that was opened with a box cutter?  Anyway, he repaired the cut with black electrical tape and wore it proudly. 

Even as a small child, I was a saver.   Our parents believed in giving kids an allowance. Not for doing chores, those were expected regardless. As members of the family, there were certain obligations and expectations. Completion of chores was one of those.  The allowance given was to teach us how to manage our money.  My weekly allowance was a quarter.  Imagine!  Twenty-five cents to do with as I please. Every week,  I spent ten cents on a comic book (usually The Adventures of Superman or another super hero) and then five cents on a lime popsicle and put the remaining ten cents in my little bank that looked like a small globe.  Then one day the price of comics went up to twelve cents and popsicles to a dime and it all went to hell.  Yes I realize that I could still put the  three cents change in my bank, but it just wasn't the savings that I wanted.  It was hard to give up that popsicles, but it had to be done. (sigh)

Raised by my parents I could do nothing else. I think it is typed right on my DNA to be tight with a buck.  I'm not cheapcheap. I mean, I recognize quality and value and I understand that generally you get what you pay for. But nothing tickles me quite like shopping on a clearance rack with a  coupon.

Right now, one of my favourite shopping destinations is my local Bealls Outlet, on the clearance rack of course.    I'm still a big fan of the dollar store but only for certain things.  I don't grocery shop there, for instance.  But a plastic bin?  Sure. Napkins? Absolutely. Candles?  Of course.  Feeding my current jigsaw puzzle addition? Without a doubt.  Why would I pay more than necessary for any of those things?  Trick question, I would not.  And all of my change goes directly into Piggy.

Piggy banks, by the way, are named so because of their origin.  Way back in the Middle Ages, metal was so prohibitively expensive that most people didn't own much.  Dishes, pots and pans and so for the were made from an orange coloured clay called Pygg.  When people had any extra coins, they would drop them in a jar made of Pygg or a Pygg Pot.  Eventually someone with a sense of humour made a pygg pot that looked like a pig and thus the piggy bank was born.

When Piggy gets full, off we go to a coin counting machine and depending on the penny to quarter ratio within, I return with an amount of moolah that surprise and pleases me.  Usually it's a once a year event.  If I time it right,  Christmas bonus money, yay!  Never hurts to have a financial windfall then, right?  Do I feel silly walking into my bank with Piggy tucked under my arm?  Well the first few times, perhaps a little.  But since the return trip is lucrative, it does take the sting out.

Meanwhile, I find as I get older, those things bother me less and less. I have become impervious to embarrassment.  It's all about my goal. Saving money.  My sister, who is very sweet, recently complimented what I was wearing. "You always look so nice" she said.   "Well thank you" I responded.  I mentally tallied the cost of what I was wearing, "I think the entire thing was less then twenty-bucks" I finished, "Including my shoes".  And this is how you know we grew up in the same household, "Nice!"  she finished, nodding.  "Nicely done".  And then we went shopping. With coupons.  During a sale.

I'm sure it won't surprise you a bit to learn that I bought Piggy at Target. On a clearance rack. With a coupon.  Such a deal!  My dad would be so proud.