SERIES: Lost Purse Part 1
This is a series about a certain purse owned by the Sangl Family. Unlike every other series I have written, I am NOT excited to be writing this one.
Part 1 – The Loss
If you follow me on Twitter, you know that Jenn and I traveled to southern Illinois last weekend to celebrate her grandfather's 90th birthday party. It was a wonderful trip. Her grandfather is a real-life WWII and Korean War hero. He was machine gunned down in WWII in the Battle of the Bulge and fought in the Koren War too. He is an amazing man, and it was our honor to attend his birthday party.
Anyway, we headed home on Sunday. It was about a nine hour drive home. We stopped and grabbed some lunch at a McDonald's just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. We then stopped one more time for some gas. As we arrived home at around 8PM on Sunday evening, I told Jenn that it would be great to grab some Chinese food.
Jenn said, "No problem. I will unload the car while you go pick it up. Let me get you some cash for the food."
She reached down to grab her purse, and the feeling of dread set in. She immediately knew that it was not in the car and that it had to be at the McDonald's that we had stopped at nearly SIX HOURS ago.
Panic might be an understatement. Many of our cash envelopes were in the purse. It also contained debit cards, checks, an iPod, and a lot of other stuff. Frankly, I could not believe everything that Jenn said was in that purse. Ladies who read this blog – HOW do you fit all of that stuff in your purses?????
So … what do you do when you lose your purse?
OMG! I can already tell that this isn’t going to have a happy ending.
Er…wait, there I go again assuming that the person who found the purse would do the responsible thing and turn it into the manager at the McDonalds who himself would also do the responsible thing and hold it until your wife came back and got it!
I hope that this story has a happy ending!
Losing your purse or wallet has to be one of the worst feelings. Hopefully a good samaritan found the purse and turned it in.
THIS IS A COVER UP!! I think it was Joe’s purse err.. European men’s carry all that was lost. He is just saying it was Jenn’s purse to avoid public humiliation. I cannot fathom Jenn ever making a mistake so it must be Joe.
This is the main reason I hate to use cash. I have lost my wallet before and while the thief’s had fun with my debit card, even got them on video at Target, I got all the money back. If I had cash in the wallet… not so much.
I’m sorry for the loss. My wife had her purse stolen out of our locked car several years back – what a pain!
This brings up an interesting question. While I believe in the importance of spending only money that you have, this is why I really don’t like the cash envelope system. At least a credit/debit card can be canceled, and the bank will refund any unauthorized charges. Once the cash is gone…it’s gone. What do you think? What do you tell someone who opposes the cash envelope system for this very reason?
That really sucks Joe. However, the credit cards and debit cards can be cancelled and new ones can be sent out quickly. Id’s can be obtained again but some things will be hard to lose and may not be able to be replaced. I still like the cash envelope system regardless of situations like this. You may lose a few hundred dollars in the cash envelopes when something happens like this. But in my experience when you don’t use the cash envelopes for things like groceries, eating out, blow money, and entertainment, it’s the grocery stores, the restaurants, the impulsive spending, and the plastic credit cards and debit cards that steal way more than your few hundred dollars you lost one time at McDonalds. Just think back to when you didn’t use them and how much money you lost or threw away in useless spending! The Cash Envelopes Work!! Even when you lose them one time!!
Well first off, let me start by saying.. I am so sorry you and your family have to go through the feeling of loss in a way, hassle and inconvinience of having to deal with this situation. I too had to go through that last year when someone STOLE my purse..
I immediately.. cancelled my cards, filed a police report.. which by the way some states reccomend you do so for your protection even if your purse or wallet was lost.. then placed a credit alert on my credit report just in case.. went to the DMV and got a new drivers license but also alerted them of the situation.. and alerted my bank as well.. I put a password on my account. Unfortunately you cannot replace the money but it can very well be made up again eventually with some discipline.. and we all know you and your family are very good at that! I pray everything works out.
All very good advice. 2 months ago I had 2 different checkbooks stolen … only one of the 2 banks told me to close the accounts not just report the checks themselves as stolen. Now adays you can pay bills and buy things on line using a check routing number. So, IF there were any checks involved… please keep this in mind! – and I agree with Savings Freak about the European men’s carry all … man bag … whatever you want to call it … uh huh !
Joe,
I am sorry for the loss, but I know that you have an emergency fund just for these things! It just goes to show the need for your emergency fund. If that were all the cash you had in that purse it would be bad, but not you oh wise one Joe Sangl. You are prepared for moments like this! So preach on about the need for an emergency fund! You rock!
Daniel
I lost my purse once and went back and found it at a gas station. I was very relieved! Have you called the McDonalds and asked to speak with the store manager? It was probably left int he lady’s restroom???
God bless you and take care. This too shall pass… Sorry for all the heartache you are going through.
Elizabeth