We stayed in a nice hotel in Washington. A really nice hotel.The TV wasn’t even chained to the wall! See the rate card? I did NOT pay that. I didn’t pay even HALF that (Travelocity rocks)! The hotel was across the street from the Metro station, and three blocks from the White House. Nobody really lives in the neighborhood. Excepting George and Laura, the only people who stay there are 1. tourists, and b. the homeless. There were no groceries, no hair salons, no magazine stands, and no diners. Just fine restaurants, ensuring that I paid at least $30 for each meal. The cheapest place we had supper was in Chinatown. By the final day, I found out where the hotel workers had breakfast, and I was able to feed all three of us from a buffet for $15.

Washington makes New York City look like a cheap place to live. Washington makes Disney World look like a cheap place to live! At the Air and Space Museum, we went to the food court to have lunch at McDonalds. I decided to get a chicken nugget meal for the kids for $6.99 and a chicken sandwich meal for me for $7.29. There were no sandwich-only options. Yeah, the prices were awful high, but we didn’t pay to get into the museum, so I could handle that. In the line, Gothgrrl grabbed a banana. The clerk rang up our order. $27. What? That’s a mighty expensive banana! She was adamant that the total was right, so I made my daughter lay down the banana and we booked. We ended up eating $4.50 peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches at the Natural History museum. So you see why I kicked myself for NOT transporting groceries all the way to Washington. After all, I didn’t know we’d have a refrigerator and microwave in the room, just no grocery store.

Panhandlers cost me a big chuck of my budget. Every morning, there were dozens, maybe a hundred people sleeping on sidewalk benches, wearing everything they owned in the heat (80 degrees at sunrise). A surprising number were women, and not all of them old and talking to themselves. One fellow gave me his story about how he had a janitor job lined up, but he had to show a picture ID to prove he was an American citizen. He had a birth certificate (not good enough), so he went down to the DMV to get a non-driver’s ID. There he found out the ID would cost $20, which he didn’t have. Now I know that’s a true story. It might not have happened recently, or to him, but its the kind of thing that happens all the time to poor folks. I know. So I gave him some money.

I can also now understand the term “compassion burnout”. After a dozen such encounters, I said to myself “Missy, you have two kids and no job. Maybe you ought to say no once in a while.” If I feel that way, how much more would this affect someone who has money, and therefore cares more about money? Jesus said the poor will always be with us, but why can’t we do something concrete to help so many people two blocks from the White House? If I weren’t blessed with a loving family, a great credit rating, and more intelligence than most, I could easily be there.

Now I’m going to step off my soapbox and share some money links with you.

Blog: What Can You Buy for a Buck? Collecting stories about prices in various places.

Currency exchange calculator.

The Useless Men think we should have some new money designed.

The Blog of the Day is  Pennylicious, with all kinds of things you didn’t know about money. Its an offspring of Neatorama, but not the ONLY offspring! Congratulations to Alex of Neatorama and his wife Tiffany on the arrival of their first child, tiny girl Madeline. Go by and see the picture, and leave an encouraging word.

Unusual Businesses Ideas That Work, full of success stories from everyday folks with unusual ideas.
This guy is having lots of fun with coins.

You might think that Change Maker is a game for kids. It is. But I know an awful lot of store clerks who couldn’t do it. I did really well, but due to my failing eyesight and a headcold, it wsn’t as easy at it should be.

Bornfool knows the value of a good tip.  

THE SON IN LAW

A very successful businessman had a meeting with his new son-in-law. "I love my daughter, and now I welcome you into the family," said the man. "To show you how much we care for you, I'm making you a 50-50 partner in my business. All you have to do is go to the factory every day and learn the operations."

The son-in-law interrupted, "I hate factories. I can't stand the noise."

"I see," replied the father-in-law. "Well, then you'll work in the office and take charge of some of the operations."

"I hate office work," said the son-in-law. "I can't stand being stuck behind a desk all day."

"Wait a minute," said the father-in-law. "I just make you half-owner of a moneymaking organization, but you don't like factories and won't work in a office. What am I going to do with you?"

"Easy," said the young man. "Buy me out."

TAKING IT WITH YOU #1

A stingy old lawyer who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness was determined to prove wrong the saying, "You can't take it with you."

After much thought and consideration, the man finally figured out how to take at least some of his money with him when he died. He instructed his wife to go to the bank and withdraw enough money to fill two pillow cases. He then directed her to take the bags of money to the attic and leave them directly above his bed. His plan: When he passed away, he would reach out and grab the bags on his way to heaven.

Several weeks after the funeral, the deceased lawyer's wife, up in the attic cleaning, came upon the two pillow cases stuffed with cash.

"Oh, that darned old fool," she exclaimed. "I knew he should have had me put the money in the basement."

TAKING IT WITH YOU #2

There once was a rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him.

An angel hears his plea and appears to him. "Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you." The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules.

The man continues to pray that his wealth could follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his largest suitcase and fills it with pure gold bars and places it beside his bed.

Soon afterward the man dies and shows up at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the suitcase says, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here!"

But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his story with the Lord. Sure enough, St. Peter checks and comes back saying, "You're right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check its contents before letting it through."

St. Peter opens the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaims, "You brought pavement?!!!"

Thought for today: A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours and 'taint mine.

humor jokes video funny games money economics rich poor Save To Del.icio.us