I grew up in Northwest Washington, and started working at my parents auto shop at the ripe old age of 7. Yes, I really said 7. I have fond memories of my mother making me do my first 1040 EZ by hand. I made minimum wage cleaning, doing errands and doing odds and ends around the shop when I wasn’t in school. I got paid a cash bonus per day of a nickel if I added the supplier receipts correctly, clearly I had a motivation to do my math correctly. Let’s just say paying taxes at that age was more depressing than it is now. Of course, it doesn’t help that I owed six whole bucks to the government; that was big money for me as an eight year old. I have since gone on to do my taxes over the internet (*cough* though still capable of using a pencil).
I have quite the interest in economics, and as a result a degree in business, probably because I don’t spell well so math and science turned out to be easier for me. Arguably I didn’t learn most of my economic theory from the same place I got my degree, I learned it by using it and reading. I’ve no real desire to get an MBA, but who knows where I’ll find myself.
My day job as a Vocational Coordinator for Community Connections in Durango, Colorado is fulfilling, but using my BeLocal coupon book at every opportunity and prodding the shop purveyors on the why’s and how’s, and of course studying the economic impact of it all is really what keeps me engaged with the community.
My blog is an attempt to order my thoughts and experiences in my local economy. Hopefully I’ll be doing an interview or two a month with a local business and I’ll be talking about how the local economy works (both the on paper ideas and how the real world works). I’ll also be talking about my own purchases while I try to move more of my spending to local businesses (with a goal of 75% of my spending local).
Experiencing Local 
I must admit I’m far more interested in your working with inmates or former inmates than the local economy. But then you may have a great way of getting others excited in learning more about their own personal impact on the community around them. 🙂
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*Giggle and a grin* Its Community Connections, not Community Corrections! We work with adults with developmental disabilities, not convicts.
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Oh and most of my successful job placements are with local businesses.
While people usually think of Walmart as a ‘good’ employer for folks with disabilities, they are not my first choice of employer for anyone.
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Interesting to know…
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hahahaha!! I’m sorry I see “Corrections” so often at my own job, my brain just made it what it wanted to. That being said, it would also be interesting learning about what you do with the disabled population.
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That’s okay. We get that all the time, it was even the topic of a recent article one of our staff wrote for our local paper.
http://durangoherald.com/article/20150111/COLUMNISTS06/150119960
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Whew, I wasn’t the only one 🙂 The “Connections” is really a perfect name for what they do but I can imagine it gets frustrating having to correct others all the time.
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It was a great idea from your parents to motivate you with some money. schools should adopt this method too. I’m an economic student, so I find the topic of your blog very interesting. Although your local economy is several thousand kilometres away from me, I think it’s still useful for me to read your posts regularly
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I’m not sure money was the motivator (plus in the 80’s a nickel didn’t buy much) but the praise of getting it correct was very nice. At least I was never fined for doing the math incorrectly.
Local economics apply everywhere! Even if you don’t ever want to visit Durango (although I must say, we are a wonderful town to visit and maybe even live in), you can still use the ideas in your area. Maybe a Be Local/ or The Buck Stops here (dollars can also be called bucks) campaigns can do great things.
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