Toddler Accidentally Shreds Family’s Cash Savings

Kasia Mikolajczak
person holding a wallet
Unsplash | Towfiqu barbhuiya

If you've ever had a toddler, you know that they're hard to watch 24/7. I mean, they crawl all over the place, and as a busy parent, you can't always know what they're up to.

That's exactly what this one couple recently discovered when an envelope of cash went missing. As you might have guessed — it was the toddler who was the culprit. But wait until you find out the rest of this story.

Ben and Jackee are parents of a 2-year-old.

two teams playing American football
Pexels | Pexels

They're also football fans. Actually, Ben is a huge fan, and he has always dreamed of having season tickets to support his favorite team, the University of Utah. But the tickets were way out of the couple's budget.

That's when Ben's mother stepped in.

person counting money
Unsplash | Sharon McCutcheon

She gave the couple $1000, so they could buy the tickets. But they really wanted to pay her back, and that's why they started a savings fund. Over a period of time, they collected about $1,060 and put it in an envelope.

They had it set aside.

man looking shocked
Giphy | Laff

But on the day they planned to give the money back, the envelope was nowhere to be found. The couple looked everywhere and couldn't find it. That's when Jackee had the idea to look inside the shredder's bin.

And her worst fear came true.

shredder and bag of shredded paper
Pexels | Amazon

Right there was the envelope with the money inside, totally shredded. OMG! What? As it turns out, their 2-year-old found the envelope and put it inside the shredder. Holy moly! I would have been so mad, lol. I mean, not at the kid but the circumstances.

Jackee shared the story on Twitter and lo and behold it went viral.

The couple received a lot of comments from people. Most of them sympathized with the situation, and a few made some clever jokes to make the couple feel better hehe.

Others offered suggestions on how to recover the money.

Amy Pohler saying "really" on Weekend Update on SNL
Giphy

Apparently, you can contact the Department of Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing and they offer a service called Mutilated Currency Redemption. Oh my gosh. What's that all about?

Here's the thing.

dollar bills
Unsplash | Sharon McCutcheon

They can actually exchange destroyed bills for new ones if the damage fits certain criteria. For example, more than half the bills need to be identifiable as U.S. currency. Hmm, is that right? And there's another stipulation.

A security feature, like the serial number, has to be distinguishable.

Steve Carrel saying "Oh, wow!"
Giphy | The Office

Wow! I had no idea about that. It might take the Treasury department some time to recover the bills. Some say from a year to three years, but it's worth a shot, no?

So, what do you think of this story?

toddler looking out the windwo
Unsplash | Kelli McClintock

Has your toddler ever destroyed something important to you? I can't imagine how this couple might have felt once they discovered what happened.

But apparently, the tweet reached the team at Budweiser, who reached out to offer Ben some Utah game day tickets! Isn't that so cool? At least there's some silver lining to this story. I bet this young couple learned their lesson and will hide money a lot better now so their kid won't find it, haha.