Saving for a rainy day

Me in blue blouse (top right) with friends

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

DO I have to keep my piggy bank or coin bank in the house or just dispose of it? This is my dilemma and my story.  

I'm really into savings but but I think my friends Ranni Cammarano nee Deloso, Jesette Kelly and Joan Lightle are igniting ideas on my sometimes loaded brain. 

For those of you who haven't read my stories the last few days I have been posting about my granddaughter Susane Lorette who got sick with dengue in the Philippines. 

For those reading this blog  and unfamiliar with “dengue”, it's a kind of illness caused by the bite of an aedes egypti mosquito. It already claimed many lives in Third World countries like the Philippines and will continue to do so until a cure and vaccine is found.

Until then it will continue to become a source of anxiety for families like my own, despite an assurance from the medical community that a vaccine will be ready next year. 

Far from home
Excuse me but I've heard that announcement a decade ago. In fact, I begin to suspect that the mosquitoes have partnered with the pharmaceutical industry to make dengue a profitable venture for both of them.

But to go back to my piggy bank story—it's when one of your own becomes sick and medical bills pile up that you begin to draw on the support of relatives and friends to keep you afloat when you're far from home as in my case.

These curious friends of mine checked if I'm still okay, being worried and all and invited me to a picnic in the house of Ranni. 

Yulie Amara Armstrong was there too while Nelisa Beth Perez Kremer who is now at Roanoke, VA and Dorena Reynolds were absent at the time. Dorena was working, I was told. 

So we met and I updated them on Susane's condition and they commiserated with me. Our conversation drifted to the custom of savings among Filipinos, trait passed from generation to generation.

Extra change
Everyone in the room agreed that savings is good for the rainy days. I subscribed to that virtue especially these times that I am now in the US because there's an  abundance of loose change in the house. 

Then out of nowhere I told them I have this “alkansiya” or piggy bank, a glass container with a seal where I place all my extra change.

The container has all the pennies, cents, quarters and dollars that were change from Ronnie whenever we dine out or shop for groceries whenever he uses credit or debit cards.

Many times I would look at my money and count them so I can wait when it is filled to capacity so I can buy something nice for myself at Belk or Kohls.

I recalled to my friends that when the container is almost full, there would be a message from home about an emergency and my piggy bank would be used to solve that need.

Penny saved, penny earned
Jesette asked me why I continue to use a piggy bank as if I'm a relic, a throwback to ancient financial history. I asked her, what's so questionable about using a bank? A penny saved is a penny earned. 

She then told me, why not save the money in a bank? Duh, that was obvious. But I cannot go to a bank everyday and deposit loose change. Jesette said the money should be placed in an open container. 

“Uncover it and set your piggy bank free,” she said. Ranni and Janni agreed. “It should be opened,” Joan said. 

All three said money would find a way for it to be used. I got a sense of deja vu, remembering what they said to a saying I heard in the past. 

I told their story to Beth Perez Kremer who not only agreed but told me not to use the glass piggy bank again. Being the Internet junkie that I am, I searched for piggy bank in Google and found this link on Mythbuster. 

The site said there's nothing wrong with saving money in a piggy bank, it all depends on what kind of container is used. The author recommended porcelain for a piggy bank.

The writer also said one should use feng shiu in knowing where to place the piggy bank. I don't know what direction my piggy bank is facing so I am blank when determining if it brings me good or bad luck.

Personally, I believe in saving money in whatever way you can so there's no harm in saving money in a piggy bank. What do you readers think? Please feel free to comment.

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis.

You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/) and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)