Money Doesn't Change Everything

I titled my blog "Money Changes Things" because, having arrived at a place in life where I can buy most anything I want, I am curious to see how it impacts my behavior. I think about spending decisions differently, but ultimately I'm still the same person who has been shaped over five decades.

Today walking home from a City Council Hearing on recycling in my city (which is abyssal - I'm happy to report several hundred citizens took time out in the middle of the day to sit through 3 hours of testimony on what exactly the problem is, and what the solutions are), I noticed the same 4-tiered shoe rack out on the street which I saw a few days ago. Today was trash day, and apparently not even the sanitation department wanted this shoe rack. You can guess what happened. The motivation that makes me care about recycling enough to sit through a City Council Hearing is the same gene that cannot walk by a perfectly good item on the street.

To make a long story short, my husband now has his shoes nicely arranged on a slightly rickety but functional shoe rack. I do have a hunch that it may go back out on the street and be replaced by a higher quality one, but I figured it was worth experimenting with. (And I may be able to talk him into getting rid of a few pairs of aged shoes, who knows?)

I've never been a trashpicker for sport, but clearly when the opportunity presents itself, I'm not gonna' turn it down. Nor does Paul McCartney, by the way. Free is free! As my husband's grandmother said, "from the rich you learn how to save."