In elementary school there was a thing called “banking” each Tuesday where each student who wanted to brought in some money (usually change) to put into an envelope (provided by the bank, I assume). You would write your name on the envelope (and possibly some other identifying information – I don’t recall) and turn it in and the money would be deposited into your very own savings account in Columbia Bank (which no longer exists). I seem to recall that once in awhile I would see a running total of my account in some sort of “bank book”, though the memory is fuzzy at this point.
My own savings were funded by my mom who would give me loose change for “banking” each week, usually 25 cents or something. Not much, but I remember seeing the savings grow in my bank book and getting excited about it, imagining what treasures could be purchased with the accumulated riches.
Well, as it turns out, no treasures of my imagination were ever purchased – the monies were invariably used toward school clothes and supplies each year. I don’t begrudge my parents now as I did at the time – the money came from them to begin with, and in retrospect we were so doggone low on the socio-economic scale that every penny counted.
