Upward Financial Indicators

I think my number one financial objective is to buy my own condo. Right now it is a condo rather than a house because I do not like the idea of worrying about the condition of a roof, or the siding on a house, things like that. I’m not too keen on shoveling snow either, come to think of it. I would not need a fancy condo, but I would like something half decent. My second financial objective would be to buy a new car. That is; a car with no previous owner. First, however, would be that condo.

I’m still a ways away from amassing enough money for a good down payment. In terms of time, it is still a few years away. But I have recently looked at my current finances and I’m getting closer. I’m feeling more comfortable with my money situation. In fact, I found evidence of that comfort earlier today. This morning I was standing in front of a vending machine looking at its granola bar, when a dime dropped out of my hand and onto the floor. It slid under the machine, just out of sight. I bent down looking for it and I finally saw it in the dusky shadow about eight or ten inches under the machine. I had every intention of retrieving it but then I realized that I could not get my fingers on it by just kneeling down, extending my arm and reaching for it. Going down on all-fours was required. Well, I would not do it. I was wearing clean, light-blue slacks and I decided that I did not want either the slacks, or my bare hands to touch the tile floor. Ergo I sacrificed the dime. Somebody either more desperate, more agile, or with dirty pants could claim it, I was releasing it from my possession. Believe it or not; the ten cent sacrifice did not bother me.

To be honest, forfeiting coins in such a manner is not new to me. I have not picked up a penny off the ground since high school. I was once told that, on average, the time and energy required for a human being to pick up a penny cost more than one cent. Therefore retrieving a penny from the ground was an ill-advised venture. About a year ago for the first time in my life I intentionally failed to reacquire a dropped nickel. To be honest, the situation had a lot to do with it. The nickel fell out of a pocket in a women’s restroom stall and came to rest alongside the toilet. I decided I did not really need that specific nickel. However that decision seemed to initiate something of a habit. Since that first deserted nickel, there have been perhaps four or five that I have sacrificed to either a floor, the earth’s soil, or some form of outdoor pavement. The common factor in the later lost nickels is that I was both walking, or in one case jogging, and in a hurry.

Three years ago my financial situation pretty much demanded that I repossess all of my wayward coins except for pennies. But that is not so true anymore simply because things have improved on the economic front. The reality is; I can almost see that condo… well, at least the front door.