In some ways, all I think I've done this month and last month is think about money. How much money I have, how much money other people have, how much the average Bulgarian makes and if it's even possible to save given the salaries that 20-somethings make.

I've been keep track of my spending and wondering will I make it? Can I stick with my budget? Will I go hungry? What choices will I have to make?

The experience, though totally contrived, has gotten me thinking. It's made me pay attention to the places I was and am spending money. It's made me <em>aware</em>. And I am not even halfway through this experiment.

This is probably why a recent article in the NYT caught my eye.  The article <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/nyregion/09bigcity.html">"Seeing how far $100 can go"</a> is a story about small acts of philanthropy in New York City. Basically, an artist-author after receiving a large advance for a book gave each of her 9 friends $100 and instructed them to give it away and that they would meet a month later to share what they'd done with the money.  Effective? Maybe not. Creative? absolutely. <!--more-->

On the small scale/practical level, it got me thinking, do you give all of the money to one person? do you spread it around? do you give it anonymously? do you give it directly to someone or do you hope that someone will find it?

On a bigger scale, What difference can you make? I don't think that the kind of difference you make is one of long term change, it's not one that is systemically effective rather it's about hope and possibility.  It's optimistic--when it seems like often there's not much to be optimistic about.

All of this of course,  made me wonder, what would I do with 100 leva? How would I give it away? What kind of fun could I have? What kind of difference could I make?

If I were to leave 5 leva bills around the city, where would I leave them? What kind of a message might I put on them? Would I wait to watch and see who found them? To see who's looking? And what their faces told me upon discovery? Or would I leave? Is it simply enough to know that I put the money out into the world? Do I need to connect faces to the money or is my imagination enough?