Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Ouch: Paper Cuts and Money

This is the kind of post I think up while I'm in the shower...

In this case it was because I was washing my hair with one finger awkwardly held out of the way due to a very painful paper cut. Sometimes I think about my original concept for this blog, which was that everything in life has something to do with money, and I wondered if people ever get paper cuts from money. I can't remember if I ever have. It's usually not a big risk given that most bills in circulation are all beat up and soft, but crisp new bills could probably give someone a paper cut. I would worry about it if I got one, as money seems to be such a carrier of filth and germs that even with quite new bills, you'd think a paper cut from money could easily get infected.
Now did thinking about infections from paper money paper cuts send me off into some reverie about health insurance costs? No. And did I think about how my main source of income is from working with books and pieces of paper, which puts me at high risk for paper cuts just as an occupational hazard? No.
But aren't you wondering how I got the paper cut in the first place? It actually DID have something to do with money! What happened was that I happened to be talking to a friend about peanut butter, and it reminded me that for a while, I was keeping a jar of peanut butter in my office to have as a snack. (See this post for more backstory on my financial relationship to peanut butter!) So I looked in my cabinet at home and noticed that I had an extra jar of peanut butter and decided to bring it to work. But the label was half un-glued, and when I put the jar in my bag, I cut my finger on the edge of the label-- which, of course, since it was a glossy kind of label, was that extremely sharp-edged kind of paper that gives you the worst paper cuts. So what it all came down to was that attempts at frugality can sometimes have painful unintended consequences.

And no, there is no moral to this story.

And I have to stop writing this now anyway, because I have something in my eye that is making it all red and itchy. Who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll post something about how this either made or cost me money. Stay tuned.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Get a pack of waterproof bandages for use in the shower:

http://www.amazon.com/3M-Tattoo-Waterproof-Bandages-Collection/dp/B000UMHIQC/

VixenOnABudget said...

You are just completely falling apart. First the papercut, now your eyes hurt!

Madame X said...

I know! Next I'll probably stub my toe!

Anonymous said...

I don't think you can get a paper cut from dollar bills because they are not made of paper.

Anonymous said...

I hope your finger feels better sooon! I imagine you today typing with seven fingers.

By the way, inexpensive and yummy peanut butter? Yum brand. Yes, that's the name. Yum.

Anonymous said...

I also keep peanut butter at my desk for my 10 o'clock snack. How funny. Sorry your finger hurts.
-Tasha

Noel Larson said...

You absolutly can get a cut from new bill, I have done it and it really hurts...as do all paper cuts. You are right thought, it is a cotton/linen mix so I guess it is tree cut...a cellulose cut? :)

I think if the bills are crisp I feel ok about the money cut, I know how dirty money is, but it seems like new money would be OK...obviously I wasn't very good at biology/germology though :)

Anonymous said...

Oh come on now ... let's talk about something really painful: The decline in my retirement savings this past month, not to mention the value of my house!
:-)

Anonymous said...

Great and funny blog..reminds me of the sushi commentary in the times on Tuesday....anyway, what can you say,,,dry skin=paper cuts,,i have a nasty one as well at the tip of my finger,,,hurts like hell whenthe shampoo hits it....no good deed goes unpunished ( you should have left the peanut butter at home!!!)

Anonymous said...

I worked as a bank teller for a year once... you can definitely get a paper cut from money, especially new bills. I kept a bottle of hand sanitizer at my teller station, because the money was so nasty. The bank wouldn't supply it, and you had to walk all the way through the lobby and into a hall to get to the restroom.

Anonymous said...

Invest in a bottle of Nu-Skin Liquid Bandage. It's great stuff that seals the cut so that reduces your chances of germs entering through there; it doesn't wash away under water; and it relieves the pain so that the throbbing will stop!

Anonymous said...

when i was in las vegas and i won a lot of money i put it inside my bra cup and i gave myself a nasty paper cut right on my nipple. strange but true. linda

Anonymous said...

when i was in las vegas and i won a lot of money i put it inside my bra cup and i gave myself a nasty paper cut right on my nipple. strange but true. linda