I started getting a $1/week allowance when I was 5 (it never got any bigger, but I did later also get a 50% share of the family’s pop bottle refund money). For some reason, I had a fascination with Slinkies in those days. They just looked like they had such potential in the commercials; unfulfilled potential in my case, since we had no stairs in our house (I tried building a couple of fake steps, but the effect was anti-climactic). But you could get a Slinky for $1, so I’d buy one the day I got my $. It would soon get a kink in it, which ruined even the potential fun of it. I must have bought about 5 Slinkies in a row before I became completely disenchanted with the whole enterprise.
Later, I’d spend all my money at the local hardware store, which was better than any toy shop in my eyes. I’d roam the aisles, looking for that same elusive commodity—potential. I had every item on those shelves burned into my memory. I could sit at home, dreaming up projects, and visualize exactly which items I’d need to put it together.
This is exactly the way my mind still works, and it serves me very well in my current job. And years of working on a $1–2 budget definitely kept me grounded economically. $10 bucks still kind of feels like a lot of money.