Apparently, Blogger Thinks It's None of My Business

It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy.
–George Horace Lorimer

Thank you to everyone who voted in the poll two weeks ago about how much sleep you need. I was really surprised to find that the nearly half of the votes were for 8 hours. I wonder if that is because that's how much sleep the “experts” recommend, and we've had that drilled into our brain so that's what we think we need. Or if that is what we really need. I voted for 8 hours, but how I love to get 9 or 10. Of course, those are precious hours and giving them up to sleep is a hard choice. To the two who voted for 5 hours of sleep, please teach me !

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Last week, I wasn't able to get my poll to post. The poll gadget still isn't working this week, so I'm going to take it as a sign from the universe that it is time to retire the "I Must Ask . . ." series. It really isn't any fun without a poll to go with the question {not to mention frustrating for me} and I'm not sure if or when the poll gadget will be working again. I'm sure I could do a little digging, but I think for now this is the last question I must ask.

The other week, I stopped by the bank to deposit a check. If I had been thinking at all, I would have gone inside the bank because the drive-through at this particular branch is horrible. The service is SO slow and the setup is ridiculous. There are two lanes, each with two teller terminals, one behind the other. I've been trapped in this drive-up for an inconvenient amount of time more than once. The worst was when I was stuck behind someone who wanted a cashier's check {at the drive-up!}. On that particular day the teller finished my transaction first {a simple deposit, which was ready when I pulled up} and I sat there for 15 minutes waiting for the lane to clear. If you're at the second teller terminal in either lane, there is no escaping because all incoming traffic is funneled down to a one-lane queue behind you and when a teller lane clears, the first two cars in the queue can advance to the open terminals, one behind the other. You just have to wait until the person in front of you is finished because there's no way around and no backing out.

But I digress. Today is not the day to rant about the shortcomings of my bank's drive-through. I mention it because I was at the head of the queue waiting for a lane to open up, glad to have a smart phone with a Facebook app {what part of "please have your transaction ready" is difficult to understand?}. While I was waiting, a woman shuffled up to my passenger side and motioned for me to roll down the window. She asked if I had any cash as she was trying to get something to eat. I had $3.00 in my wallet, which I gave her. Had she caught me on my way out of the drive-through, I probably would have given her a ten.

For the most part, I use a card to pay for purchases. But I like to carry a little mad money, you know, just in case. At any given time, I have no more than $20 in my wallet, which seems like a huge amount to me. At the moment, I think I have like 79₵, which isn't really enough for anything. $10 is my cash comfort level, but I don't stress if I'm down to a few coins. I don't like having a lot of money in my wallet anyway, because then I'll just spend it and wonder where it went.

I know that not everyone is cash conservative. Mr. Bug likes to have a stash of cash. A long time ago, I had a boss who carried a money clip full of large bills, always. And once upon a time, I had a boyfriend who was paranoid that when he went to make a purchase of any kind he'd get to the register and not have enough cash, so he carried superfluous amounts. I learned growing up that every penny counts, so I used to write checks for everything so I could keep close tabs on what I spent. I only write a few checks nowadays. I mostly use a card, and those purchases are even more easily tracked than checks because I don't have to write anything down; I can just check on-line and balance it out in my spreadsheet.

I've told you how much money I like to carry. I wondered if asking about pocket money was OK for "polite conversation." I'm pretty sure that Blogger thinks it is none of my business. It's the only explanation for the poll gadget to be out of order for two weeks in a row. But kosher or not, I must ask . . . what's in your wallet? If you want to participate this week you'll have to leave a pocket change/mad money comment and I guess we'll find out if it really is none of my business . You can round to the nearest dollar or declare the exact amount. Anything more than $50 is above my pay grade, so if you carry more than that . . . well . . . just say $50+ and I'll assume that means $50, three pennies, two nickels and a dime.