Traditions

When I was growing up, my family saved newspapers and cans all year. It was the kid's responsibility to bundle the papers and crush/bag the cans. We would take them a few days before Christmas and cash them in. Yes...they used to pay you to recycle them. That is how the kids earned Christmas money.

Another tradition that went on all year long was my dad saved ALL of his change. He would not spend any change. He would break a paper bill before he would dig in his pocket for change. That change adds up. We would pile up on my parent's bed and roll and count the money. That change would pay for many vacations, my first car, and probably things I didn't even know about.

Sunday night I told Rebecca and Eric that I was going to take our jug of coins to the credit union and cash them in. They both told me there wasn't enough in there to fool with. Rebecca and I emptied the jars, took the tubs of money to the credit union, and fed it into the coin machine. Cha Ching!! It came to a grand total of $188. Wow. Who knew. Guess what we'll be doing now...saving all of our change. It really does add up.

Thanks, Dad. You did teach us some traditions that pay off.