Velocity Of Saving Money

Meet my grandmother and her way with the velocity of saving money like no one else I knew. This is really just a few reminicing thoughts of saving moneythat she taught me. It always boggles everyone’s mind how she could save so much from so little.

Others in the household with much more money available – more income, more resources always fell flat and go broke.

I remember an uncle and an an aunt who were always on the hand-out list despite having their decent paying jobs.

Of course saving a penny a day won’t cut it in this world economy. And yet often that’s all she had. of course that’s a long time ago – but really, she does her magic with less than minimum wages.

This is how she accomplished her money magic.

a) She plans the timing of her money; make all payments in time, gets aid or products in time, and always pay when they’re due.

b) Money that is not due is hers to hold on to OR do something productive with it and make it a really quick turn around. How many times I’ve helped carry the food she cooked for a small family party or some invalid but wealthy person. She always seemed to have many more dollars than when she started with. And I enjoyed having the kind words lavished on me for helping my grandmother. I think we do get some extra cash they called tips. No wonder there is always some left over for my favourite apples and candy.

c) Where does she put her savings? No, she never trusted the bank – something about losing her money there once when the bank went bust. Yes, the classic under the mattress rules. She had a personal pouch full of petty cash she uses for her daily investment rituals.

d) She does all this without anyone else in the family knowing. And she even does her “quickie” overnight or should I call them intra day investments by buying large bags of flour, rice or even cold icees. You see, people were generally very poor then. They could only afford to buy food for the day, everyday. Grandma never went to school but she could put Wall Street types to shame. Again, this more than doubles her money. Neighbours will buy from her for the convenience. I always had a little last piece handed to me…

e) Grandma made enough money to become the proud owner of the first TV in the neighbourhood. Suddenly my grandparents’ house verandah became a mini theatre. A tiny admission was charged to each person for a special program aired 3 times a week. She served cold drinks and snacks too. Each week enough money was made to run the household for a month.

I’ll stop there. There are a number of other little entrepreneurial investments she made, all the while saving most of the money. She really only invested the money that was given to her by the family members, to maintain the household. But her lessons are really profound and should be taught in business schools.

If only everyone else in the family had a clue, they wouldn’t have ignored her. Grandma the busness woman, grandma the entrepreneur, grandma the savings bank.

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Keep Money Under Mattress.

The term, “Money Under Mattress” really came from people who are fearful of losing touch with their hard earned cash. My grandmother, bless her soul, used to hide all her savings under her mattress when I was but a child.

When asked, she told me it was because she did not trust anyone else with her money. Back then, it was understandable as even the bankers were seldom trustworthy where we lived.

Now, don’t laugh, that was a habbit I once picked up. But I actually hid a good pile of cash inside a specially made pocket within the mattress itself resulting ain a rather lumpy bed. But, for all intent and purposes, it worked.

Note:
Don’t bother today, there’s nothing there but fluff.

People coming from third world countries often do that. And the old cliche or joke about Chinese folks hiding money under their mattresses was still true up until only a decade or two ago. This was the way they actually felt secure about saving money.

Here’s a true story about an aged aunt long ago.
She had actually outlived her husband by 40 years after the war and had hidden all her cash within her mattress and pillows. She had sewn all that cash within specially made pockets and slept on them for over 4 decades!

After passing on, her very puzzled children looked for her stash in vain (mentioned in her will). One day they decided to dump her bedding and accidentally ripped the mattress. What a bonanza! There was over half a million dollars in cash and bonds for her 2 children to share.

So, in short, the ever loving mattress gave very sweet dreams of financial freedom banking.

Now, cash seekers, today, these older folks are rather more sophisticated and do pad their bank accounts. You’ll have to let them sleep in peace these days.

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