Money, money, money

Anyone who's known me for any length of time, knows I love a good bargain. My dad says that I'll buy something just because it's on sale, keep it in my house until I need it (which, by the way, makes me a major pack rat). Case in point, everytime he needs something, he'll ask me, and I'll usually say I've got one, and proceed to bring it over to his house. This week it was a stereo receiver, last week it was a cartridge for his printer.

That, of course doesn't mean I like cheap things, I like nice, luxurious items as much as the next person, I just don't like paying full price for it. Where does this all this thriftiness come from? I'd attribute it to something in my upbringing, but my mom seems to think it's even more innate than that. When I was younger, it was obvious my parents didn't have much money (dad moved to the U.S. with $50, etc). We were thrifty by necessity.

The first couple of years we were in the United States, my parents bought thrift store furniture to fill the house, and my mom avoided any expenditures she didn't have to make. She held off buying a winter coat for a couple of years even in the harsh New York winter weather. We lived in Uniondale and then Baldwin, NY. The house we were renting was on the same street as the elementary school, and my mother would send off my sister to school, having her walk down the road. Meanwhile my mother stood outside and watched her to make sure she made it safely all the way to the school. My sister was of course bundled up nice and warm in a coat my parents had purchased for her, but my mother stood outside in just a basic women's top, usually short sleeved at that. The next door neighbor would come out and ask my mother, how she could stand the cold without a coat. My mother would reply cheerfully, the sun is out, so I'm warm, even in freezing temperatures. It wasn't until some time later, that someone finally gave my mother a winter coat, I think it might have been the secretary for my dad's department at school.

I also remember whenever we went to the supermarket to buy groceries, my mother would tally up the running total in her head, and make us kids tally up with her the cost of everything in the shopping cart. Maybe that's why we're all so good at math. If the total was too high, stuff would go back, and wait another week. It was in this way that, my mom and my dad kept the family going through tough times. We always had enough to eat, clothes, and a roof over our head, and every once in a while we got a special treat. So I can't complain, since my dad made sure there was always money for the basics.

My mom says I was always the one the with the sharpest, eye, the one who found the best bargain when we were out shopping. She remembers when my grandmother, her mother was visiting and we went shopping, I'd take my "amah" around the bargain racks and find her the best bargains. I was probably only 6 or 7 at the time. But then again, I was also always capable of handling money. My mom says at the age of 2 (when we were living in Taiwan) my grandmother used to send me to the corner store to buy whatever little grocery item she needed. She'd just give me a little change tell me what to get, and I'd always toddle down the street and bring back the right thing. Of course I couldn't imagine doing that with a two year old today, but back then things were different. Everyone down the street knew who I was and kept an eye on me, so I think to everyone it was pretty safe to send a two year old to the store, and so my buying habits started pretty early.

Fast forward 35 years, and here I am, making a decent salary, living in a nice home, and every time I go out to the store, I'm still looking for that bargain. You just don't outgrow certain things you grow up with. So next time you need something, ask me first, I probably have an extra one (or two or three) in a closet somewhere.