And Speaking of Vacuums

I don't understand what type of commerce goes on in our schools these days, but my kids sure require a lot of cash. Daily. Before school. Usually on the way in.

"Oh, Mom. Do you have a buck? I need it to buy these pencils they're selling?"

"Who's selling? For what?"

"Mom!  It's for the food pantry."

What do you do? Sure, take my last dollar. The thing is, no matter how much I probe into the ultimate good of my cash uses, it's a futile exercise. There are ceaseless causes to support. And we like to support causes. Oh yes, we do.

Back in my day (ooh, how I love to say that to my offspring!), I rarely had a need to carry any money to school.  Maybe by the time I was in high school, I'd scavenge a few quarters for the occasional soda. But Mom and Dad would've needed additional part-time jobs to pay for all the nickel and diming our kids do to us. (Wait, my folks already had additional part-time jobs.)

Am I sounding a bit like Ebeneezer? Perhaps. Don't get me wrong - we get great satisfaction from giving. So what is it?  Is it the constant requests of "Can I have $5 for this or $5 for that?" that eventually begins to feel like nails on the chalkboard? Nope, don't think so. Anyone with kids learns to tolerate repetitive phrases by the time they turn 3. My greatest irritation of getting nickeled and dimed from my kids is this: the mere inconvenience of having to carrying cash. No lie. I'm a banker - I use my debit card everywhere.  I don't like to carry cash, because it screws up my very intricate budget system. (Ahem.) But now, I'm finding myself having to add a whole new budget category - school trinkets. And I'm not sure I can prove the deductibility.

Naughty or Nice?

It's occurred to me that perhaps we should keep a whole wad of one dollar bills for these occasions. But my sixth sense tells me that's a bad idea. So, I'll just keep ranting and raving every time the kids need more cash. And find a way to get it to them and hope we are really making a difference!