Polls/Quizzes* Money to burn

Intro photo and flag logo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Austrian Schillings, German Deutsch Marks, French Francs, Belgian Francs, Luxembourg Francs, Italian Liras, Spanish Pesetas, Portuguese Escudos, Dutch Guilders, Danish Krone, Greek Drachmas, Irish Pounds, Czech Koruna to name a few is now under the umbrella of the Euro currency. Having just one currency makes the export and import between member countries more attractive and un bureaucratic. No more losing out on money exchange. This is one of the positive aspects of having the Euro.

So many years later, the Utopia image of one Europe, one currency and travelling without borders is being scratched. Member countries like Portugal, Ireland, Greece (also known as PIG countries-not a discriminating word) made the Euro shake to its knees. It slumped and made so many companies bankrupt not to mention Mr. Madoff is now enjoying his holidays somewhere in NY. Billionaires become millionaires and millionaires become suddenly thrifty and stingy. You can even see them incognito in a thrift Supermarket. Why not?

We, the Bourgoeis, learn to flip the coins before spending and letting them go. What do we do? We receive tons and tons of ad mails, junk mails which are blocking up our mail boxes everyday. Maybe the sight of this is giving wrong signals to the criminals that perhaps the house or apartment is not occupied. Owner is away on a holiday. So, we go over the ads, page by page mesmerizing what to buy and how much to spend.

We make a list of what we have to buy and we buy only the products which are less than 1 Euro.
1) 0.79 Euro cents for Pickled Gherkins (650 grams/bottle) IF you buy 2 glasses
2) 0.79 Euro cents for Pickled Mild Pepperoni (460 grams/bottle) IF you buy 2 glasses
3) 0.79 Euro cents for Pickled Hot Pepperoni (300 grams/bottle) IF you buy 2 glasses
4) 0.60 Euro cents for Maggi Fix condiments for Lasagna, Stew, Pasta Asciutta IF you buy 3 Packs
5) 0.79 Euro cents for Pepsi 1.5 Liter/bottle IF you buy 6 bottles
6) 0.70 Euro cents for Fresh white mushrooms (250 grams/plastic trays) IF you buy 2 trays
7) 0.99 Euro cents for Super Farmer Sandwich white American style Bread (375 grams)
8) 0.99 Euro cents for fresh Cream cheese natural (175 grams)
9). 0,99 Euro cents for fresh Cream cheese with garden herbs (175 grams)

We have to check and control the contents of what we are buying. One particular supermarket in town sends you the weekly offers, 25%-Off on all drinks, on all fruits and vegetables or 10%-Off on all cheese products. When it is your birthday, you get 10%-Off on all products (except generic products). One time, I went shopping at this supermarket redeeming the 10% coupon. The cashier took it and scanned it at the cash register but when I looked at it, the scanner ignored my coupon so I went back and complained. The Cashier took my membership card and compared it to the coupon, then she said, the coupon is not for me. I said sorry, it is my husband's. We share same birthday in April, each of us has a membership card and we get this birthday coupon separately. Anyway, why should I be embarrassed. We live in a democracy and if I don't say anything, it may ruin my day because I will grumble over it.

Because all prices went up, the beggars are having a hard time. People are keeping their cents and not giving them away. One time, I went shopping and 1 cent was missing so I had to return the product back to the shelf. Sometimes I am lucky to find some cents on the streets so I pick them up. Money does not stink. All I have to do is wash them with soap. Yes, I dreamt already twice that I found so many coins lying on the streets so I picked them all up. I had bags full of coins. Whatever it means, I want to know.

Some old people would stash their money under the mattresses or pillow cases or in-between the sheets in their clothes cabinet because they don't trust the banks anymore. The problem is they forget where they put the money.

In the old days, every household has a mug used for collecting the money, mostly coins. In this mug, the picture of the dog is painted at the bottom. When they see the dog, that means, money is gone. This could be why they call it GONE TO THE DOGS or DOG DAY (Dog Day Afternoon).???

As for us, we are burning the money when we buy heating coal and coke for winter, charcoal for grilling and pay heating gas. Blessed are those who are under the tropical sun, they don't need to heat up their houses or apartments, they don't need to go to the sun tan salons and they don't need to pay for those exotic fruits as they grown near-by.

And to add the last Footnote, we get payment notices from telephone, water, electric companies that we have not paid the bills. Actually, we did not see the bills but we received them. They were just stuck in between the loadful of junk mail ads we received and frustratingly trashed into the paper garbage bin. Each notice of late payment costs 7 Euro minimum. How could you save money for the rainy days? Please someone tell us! (1Euro = 1.434USD plus/minus) For conversion rates, please check http://www.x-rates.com/d/EUR/table.html You can also check the other lens about wanting to be a millionaire: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-aspire-to-become-a-millionaire

Photo of loose change belongs to me.