As a kid I was extremely careful with my money. Whenever I received money for allowance, as a gift for my birthday, Chinese New Year, whatever the event was, I saved it all up. I never spent it on toys (when I was younger) and I never spent it on clothing and other luxuries (when I was older).

Now, here’s the cute part. I split up my money three ways. One box was for spending, although it was very rare that I would ever use that money. Another box was for “college money.” Wow, I thought far ahead, didn’t I? I was a little kid already putting money away for college. I mean, my parents didn’t even create a bank fund for college.

Here’s the icing on the cake: the third way my money was split up… “retirement money.” WOW. Seriously, what kid refuses to buy toys to save up for college and retirement? This just proves I have never been normal. haha. Despite my good efforts, now I realize that the “retirement money” will have to be put into “college money” instead. I have no time to save up for retirement money yet when college is costing me an arm and a leg, haha. However, I’ll honor that careful little kid I used to be and save up for retirement money someday as soon as I can :P

Anyway, it really has been my whole life since I’ve been saving up. When I reached $1000 my parents took it and put it in the bank. Of course, that’s what they say…who knows, they might have just used it, lol. Besides that, I also started saving up in those cute little tin boxes with the locks on them. I even hid all the keys in one inconspicuous place. That’s also really funny: my innocence. I didn’t realize that if someone wanted the money inside my safe boxes, they could just cut the lock, or crush the thin, metal boxes. No need to look for the key.

The funds for my “spending money” has died down considerably. With senior year in high school, there was always something to spend money on. However, it’s been so long since I’ve added money to my other funds that I completely forgot I had saved up so much in those little tin boxes. My mom was in my room the other day when she reminded me about the money and asked me to count how much was in there. I did, and it surprised me how much I had saved up.

So in total, I saved up almost $2000 just from refusing to be a kid and spend it all at once. lol! I’m still amazed. Now that I’m actually going to college, $2000 is nothing compared to the price I have to pay for 4 years, but the amount still amazes me, and it’ll at least pay for books, dinner with friends, etc.