Money Matters

I better not let Suze Orman hear me say it, but I’m not very good with money. I’m not saying I don’t have any money skills--I’m a thrift store shopper, bargain hunter, and make-it-from-scratcher---but I’ve also historically been impulsive and generous without being judicious sometimes. Relationships and right now are just more important in my life than long-term security has been, so it’s usually feast or famine in my world. It’s hard to believe I’m as fiscally challenged as I am because I have spent much of my life with people who know how to get, save, and pinch the bejesus out of pennies (and nickels and dimes and dollars). My brother John used to take the brunt of my bad money management, because he loved money (his first bank was a tiny combination safe) but he also loved me and didn’t want to see me suffer when the famine hit. I clearly remember one Christmas when his pockets weren’t deep enough to fend me off, poor kid. We were shopping and I saw a genuine, artificial ruby brooch and earring set that our red-loving grandma just had to have. My money supply was depleted, but I wheedled my brother into “helping” me make my purchase. It pained him to pull every one of those coins into the light, but he did it anyway. In Judith Viorst’s Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, our bad-day boy just can’t keep a hold on his cash. That’s because it’s super hard.

http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Used-Rich-Last-Sunday/dp/0689711999

http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=502