I don’t like spending money. Honest. When I receive money (birthday, Christmas or pocket), it is always gratefully received. I feel so honoured that people have taken time to give an amount, out of the kindness of their hearts. However, I never spend it. Almost 100% of it goes to the bank and stays there forever. When I have to spend my own money, it always feels painful; something I wish could be avoided. On the issue of money, I’m a saver, no, a closet hoarder. Spending a huge sum at once is rarer than a blue moon. With me, it takes place once every three solar eclipses.
From what I can see, the main reason for my seldom spending sprees is not being in paid employment. At the moment, there’s nothing wrong with this. I’ve just started sixth form (and love it!), which requires lots of time, energy and dedication. I would love a part time paid job. It would be a chance to meet new people, learn new skills and, most importantly, get my foot on the first rung of a career ladder. However, high achievement in my academic studies must come first. They are the foundations for a university application, leading to a degree and better chance of a successfully career. If I were to have money coming in at the end of each month, I may be tempted to spend more; safe in the knowledge the pot would soon be refilled. As this doesn’t yet happen, the money stays safely in the bank. Most of the time. When spending sprees do happen on such rare occasions, they normally involve vouchers. Primarily, book vouchers. Over the years, I will rack up tonnes of book vouchers (mostly for Waterstones), which stay attached to my wall. When over £50’s worth of vouchers are there (roughly 5 to 6 vouchers), I finally spend them. I use all the vouchers, for the excitement of getting books and clearing space on my bedroom notice board. I try to estimate how many books my vouchers will allow when browsing, but you can never be fully sure. In reality, I often underestimate! As the vouchers are used to pay for the books, I often forget that money is involved. Of course it is… I’ve been brought up to loath credit cards. They are highly dangerous. With credit cards, money spent is removed only at the end of the month. This means users are unaware of how much they have spent, are far more likely to overspend cannot afford what they have spent. Following this is debt, loan sharks and all kinds of horrific situations which ruin lives. This is why I will always champion debit cards. On a shopping spree, at least with debit cards, cash is removed instantly. That way, it’s easy to know how much (or little) money is left in the bank account. Paying in cash means everyone can see the money going from their wallet or purse. With cards, it’s so easy to forget that it’s another way money is gone, whether it’s spent wisely or wastefully. Talking of cards, who knew using one was so easy? Now a shopping spree can be even longer and using someone else’s card. Yes, forget having a PIN so only the card owner could use the card. A swipe of a card means money can be taken instantly. No questions asked. For all the shop knows, the card is yours. Putting aside obvious pitfalls, the system is designed to work against those with memory problems. If say, Bob, an older, frail person is so used to swiping his card, he is far more likely to forget his PIN: those vital, precious four digits. When Bob attends a shop without any money, presuming he can swipe his card, he is likely to get in a sticky situation when that shop has no swipe technology. That situation will only be made worse if he doesn’t remember his PIN. Why are we doing this to people? Are we so lazy that pressing 5 buttons is such a big deal? For supporters of ‘scrap the PIN, I want to buy stuff fast’, surely a more effective way would be to used someone’s eye to pay. This is often used to access rooms, with a machine quickly scanning your iris to check you are authorised. Why can’t this be branched out to shops? When making a bank account, a person’s eye could be scanned, directly linking them to that account. If they had more than two accounts, people’s fingerprints could be used. That way, the way of showing your identity would never be lost (unless someone chopped your finger off, in which case, I don’t think you would spend time buying stuff). It would also ensure that identity theft, at least in shops, never took place. Great! On the downside, some people may have so many bank accounts that each of their fingers and toes had to be used as a fingerprint. If that were me (and it certainly isn’t), I would have to label each finger, probably as a tattoo, which is slightly odd. I’m not advocating this policy, mainly because I don’t know enough about it or whether it even exists, but, if nothing else, it’s an idea. Life shouldn’t revolve around money. We are told this as a society, but, for better or for worse, money does seem to play a significant role. Whether it’s public services we all rely on, being able to afford the school uniform, getting into a decent care home or even going on holiday, the sums you have are at the heart of those issues. While I am a broad supporter of capitalism and the excellent things it has done for countries, I do wish money played a slightly less important role. Because, what really matters? The people you love being safe. Culture, whether that’s art, literature, music or theatre. Being happy. If money makes you happy, well, that’s great. Just don’t think everyone has a burning passion for it. I certainly don’t.
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