Let's talk about the first time, as children, that we ever got what we considered to be a large sum of money (and don't be afraid to tell the story/circumstances behind it.) The only rule is that no amount is too small...

For me, it was late 1982 and Mom and Dad had just gotten a much needed financial windfall (we'd just gone past one of two times in my life when I or my family were "this close" to being homeless.) We did find a house, but were coming dangerously close to not having the rent money for the second month and were even thinking about throwing in the towel and moving back to Michigan (Warren). Then this money came to us, and we were saved.

We were sitting in the living room the weekend a couple weeks before Thanksgiving and Mom said she had a surprise for me. She handed me an envelope with 32 dollars in it. 32 DOLLARS! I had never had that much money in my life, but it felt like I had all the money in the world. I started making all these plans about what to do with it, but not before Mom had another surprise for me - in addition to that money, she gave my uncle an extra $5 and told him to take me to a video game arcade! This was special to me because I'd gotten many times that summer for hanging out in arcades and not coming home til late, so everyone present how special that privilege was to me.

Anyway, the funny thing was I spent about half this money on other people. I got my cousin two 45 records for Christmas (this cousin I had a crush on), and got my parents and my sister presents as well, of course. In my mind, even though we'd just been through a hard time, receiving this money (and realizing just how much money it was) seemed like the answer to all our prayers.)

I remember one other thing - going grocery shopping with Mom later in the month and hearing her say, "this is one time when I'm not counting pennies...if you want it, put it in the cart." Boy, oh boy! What a thing for a 13-year old son to hear! (Of course she probably would have said no if I'd put EVERY dessert I saw in the cart, but you get the picture.) With Thanksgiving coming soon enough, I can imagine what must have been going through Mom's mind.

Share, org...

I won a 50 dollar savings in a spelling bee when I was 10. It was cool to hold it in my hands. My mom took it and cashed it in and essentially stole the money from me.

I guess my first real money was when I got my first summer job at 13. My first paycheck was 67 dollars.

I found a one hundred dollar bill in a parking lot when I was 9...I remember it vividly...I bought comic books, star wars figures and some gum...my mom made me put the rest in my piggy bank...from time to time when I wanted something that my folks wouldn't buy for me, I used the left over money to get it...who knows what I blew that shit on...

I bought a dual cassette ghettoblaster, but I can't remember why I got the large sum... these days I am spoiled and feel entitled to money

Umm, never?

I think I won $10 for a halloween costume contest when I was 3.


Does that count?

errant said:

And you spend it all on booze.

Cinnie said:

Nope. That was back in my meth days

My grannie gave me a cheque for $50 for my tenth birthday. I felt so grown up.

I got a grand as a graduation present from high school

I saved $10 together when I was about 8 years old. That was a fortune then. I bought this:

or rather the 1979 edition of 72 Derwent pencils - and I still had most of them until recently!

Man, the tooth fairy loved me, I used to get like $12 per tooth