Toddler shreds over $1000 that parents had saved for a debt

People say that raising a child can be expensive in many ways – but we don’t think they had this one in mind.

Ben Belnap is your average football fan from Holladay, Utah.

Right now, Ben is a young parent with his partner Jackee. The couple is putting all of their money into raising their toddler, Leo.

Facebook - Benjamin Billy Belnap Source: Facebook - Benjamin Billy Belnap

His favorite team from the league is Utah’s own University of Utah.

He had always dreamt of buying season tickets to support his favorite team, but they can be expensive.

Facebook - Benjamin Billy Belnap Source: Facebook - Benjamin Billy Belnap

The couple doesn’t have spare money for luxurious things like the season tickets – but Ben’s parents came to the rescue and lent him some money to make his dreams come true. Ben and Jackee were ecstatic and promised to pay them pack as soon as they could.

The couple then started saving money. Little by little they put money on their white envelope until they reached $1,060 – enough to pay Ben’s parents.

Pexels - @karolina-grabowska Source: Pexels - @karolina-grabowska

After finally having enough money to pay their debt, the couple decided to set the white envelope aside until they had the chance to meet with Ben’s parents. But on the official repayment day, something happened.

The white envelope went missing.

The couple looked all over the house. Every room, drawer, surface, crevice, and cranny – the white envelope was nowhere to be found.

For some reason, Jackee decided to check their shredder.

Flickr - @yoppy Source: Flickr - @yoppy

Call it “motherly intuition” but Jackee was right.

The money was inside the shredder. But sadly, it had been shredded into pieces by their son Leo.

After sharing the incident on Twitter, their story became viral.

People on the internet have mixed feelings about it all.

Some even gave funny advice about what Leo’s punishment should be for his acts.

Twitter Screenshot - @MMGOLFSTUDIO Source: Twitter Screenshot - @MMGOLFSTUDIO
Twitter Screenshot - @davidstehle Source: Twitter Screenshot - @davidstehle

The tweet even made its way to the team at Budweiser!

The Twitter account reached out to offer Ben some Utah game day tickets.

Twitter Screenshot @budweiserusa Source: Twitter Screenshot @budweiserusa

Many Twitter users advised Ben to go to the U.S. Treasury.

The Department of Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) offers something called the Mutilated Currency Redemption Service. This is where damaged money can still be recovered.

Unsplash - @franagain Source: Unsplash - @franagain

The treasury can technically exchange destroyed bills for new ones if the damage fits certain criteria. More than half the bill needs to be identifiable as U.S. currency and features such as the serial number have to distinguishable.

They took the advice and went to the U.S. Treasury to share their story.

Twitter- @Benbelnap Source: Twitter- @Benbelnap

The process will take somewhere between six months and three years, but the U.S. Treasury seems to think that at least some of the shredded amount will be salvageable.

All they have to do now is wait. And in the meantime, the couple sure learned an important lesson in this incident – that money should be kept in the bank and not an envelope, especially when you have an adventurous 2-year-old in your household!

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Source: Twitter – @Benbelnap; How Stuff Works; Little Things

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