9 November 2007

For a number of years, Kyle and I have employed a method of saving money for special events that always raises eyebrows.  My mother taught me this, a decade or so ago.  We decide what we’re saving for:  a trip to England, a cruise, the dentist, etc.  Then, we find a letter, A-L that corresponds with that thing:  E for England; G for Great Britain; C for cruise; D for dentist, etc.  Sometimes, when time is of the essence, we even find more than one letter; B and C for boat cruise; E and G and B for England, Great Britain.  Then, we watch the money that passes through our hands, and we save the bills displaying the chosen letter.  This was easier with the old bills—the letter is very obvious, surrounded by a circle indicating the city of minting, for which the letter is a code.  On the newer bills, you have to look a bit harder, but that city code is still there . . . I think it’s the second letter in the green number, and it’s repeated just below that followed by the number that corresponds to it.

Anyway, we paid for that cruise in the year 2000, by saving money bearing the letters B and C.  When my mother first taught me this little secret, she was saving for a car, which she did eventually buy with her (all ones!) dollar bills.  I’m a believer it works. Especially when you save fives and tens and twentys!

So, right now, we’re saving for our next trip to the UK.  But, unlike other times when we’ve saved E’s or G’s or B’s or all of those, this time we’re saving H’s.  We’re planning a trip to Edinburgh for Hogmanay 2008/09.  We’ve been hosting our own Hogmanay Party for years, and we will again this 31st of December.  But, as that will be our 10th Annual Hogmanay Party, and our fifteenth annual New Year’s Eve Party—we’ve decided to take the following year off and attend the world’s biggest Hogmanay Party! 

So, if you come across any bills in your wallet bearing the letter “H”—be sure and set them aside for us!  We’ll buy them from you happily!

~MB

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