Slip 5

As an AARP member I receive their newsletter and magazine on schedule.  Seniors span a whole range of situations from debilitated to healthy, poor to affluent.  There seem to be common concerns like filling up the day when there is no time clock and managing money that is finite.  Most of it I don't read but occasionally one suggestion works out well.  On the suggestion of one of the articles, I started setting aside every five dollar bill received in change.  It went into an enveloped marked for that purpose, kept on my desk in one of its cubbies.  I made some rules:  not more than one daily, as restaurants will often give two five dollar bills rather than one ten dollar bill in change, presumably to enhance waitress tipping.  Every six months, I count the content of the envelopes and allocate the money for things I would not have otherwise spent on myself.  Three countings have been done:  $180-$130-$145.  A new envelope began with the change of the calendar year and has its first bill.  The purchases from last time:  a shiatsu electric back massager, a radio with a short wave band, and and Instant Pot, all on sale.  Don't use any of them as much as I expected. 

Now I have 29 five dollar bills on my desk, no particular goods or services I'd like to acquire.  Have six months for something to catch my eye and desire.