Money-Go-Round

When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do was to accompany my folks on a visit to the bank. I remember being fascinated by the drive-thru window where you placed your withdrawal slip in a hermetically-sealed plastic cylinder that was then dropped into a machine and sucked through a series of pneumatic tubes until it magically re-appeared a few minutes later filled with cash.

Since I am of the age where I actually remember life before the ATM, I certainly appreciate the convenience of easy access to your funds, and the flexibility and immediacy of online banking. As a matter of fact, this great convenience allowed some miscreant to steal my wife's PIN and access my account two years ago, eventually absconding with over $5000 of our hard-earned bread.

In any case, though our move is progressing smoothly, one of the most befuddling aspects of this process is getting our financial house in order, so to speak. My wife and I opened separate accounts after all the previous trouble we had, figuring that they would only get half of our money the next time one of us was robbed.

However, now that it is time to move all our funds to our new account in North Carolina, I don't even need to tell you how difficult it has been to shuffle funds between four different checking accounts (including the new one) and three different savings accounts, not to mention our credit cards, 401K accounts etc.

In the next week or so, I need to arrange to pay for our moving expenses (~$3500, and we are doing it ourself), car shipping fees, kennel and cargo charges for our cats (who will be joining us once we arrive), carpet cleaners, and auto mechanics, not to mention the hotels and other expenses we will incur on our 2500 mile cross-country trip next week.

It will all come together I am sure, but trying to keep balances from nine different accounts in my head has given me a slight migraine, to say the least. At least for once in our life we actually have money in all those places. The story would be much different if we were still trying to figure out how to pay for all this stuff.

Watch your money-go-round; watch your money-go-round
They got it wrapped up tight, they got it safe and sound
Watch your money-go-round; watch your money-go-round
As you fall from grace and hit the ground

"Money-Go-Round" was written by Paul Weller