When Brian McPherson was 14 years old, he received his first 10 cents in Canadian Tire money with the purchase of a hockey stick.

On the way out of the store, his eye caught a glistening, brand new riding lawnmower for sale — the most expensive thing in the store at the time — and a dream was born.

The Edmonton resident thought to himself: “Wouldn’t it be cool if someone bought one of those with nothing but Canadian Tire money?”

Fifteen years later, that’s exactly what he did.

This week McPherson, now 29, walked into his local Canadian Tire armed with a silver briefcase filled with $1,053 in what is affectionately known as Canada’s unofficial second currency, and bought himself that riding mower.

“It was just one of those things that you set out to do, and you tell everyone how you’re going to do it,” McPherson told the Toronto Star Friday.

Even though his small, suburban lawn requires only a push mower, “Somehow it would have been disappointing if I had done something different with the money,” he said.

McPherson estimates he had to spend more than $20,000 in real money to get enough Canadian Tire cash to cover the 13½-horsepower, Yard Machines-brand mower, which came out to exactly $1,050.05.

The multi-coloured currency featuring the smiling face of Sandy McTire comes in tiny denominations of five cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, $1 and $2. A company spokesperson told the Star a customer would have to spend $100 in cash purchase to get just 40 cents of Canadian Tire money, barring any promotions or bonuses. It’s longest-running loyalty program in Canada, according to the company.

Like the character of Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney in the movie Up in the Air, who is determined to hit the million air-mile mark while flying around the Unites States firing people from their jobs, McPherson went out of his way to make nearly all his purchases, with the exception of food, at Canadian Tire, to make his dream come true.

Earlier this week, he realized he was on the verge of realizing his ambition when he saw the mower on sale while he was filling up his truck at his local Canadian Tire — as he always does. He rushed home and enlisted the help of his wife, Kristin, to count the stacks of bills he had amassed over the years and found he had just enough to cover the machine.

He says Kristin shared in his excitement at the purchase because the two have known each other since they were in Grade 8, around the time when McPherson first set his sights on the mower.

For now, McPherson will keep the mower at his Edmonton home, but plans to take it north to a small property the couple owns on Fork Lake, where it will be infinitely more useful.

“It’s not really practical for the city,” he said.

Pam Keller, a manager at the Canadian Tire on Edmonton’s 178th Street where McPherson made the momentous purchase, said she’d only seen one other customer in the last 15 years come in with that much Canadian Tire cash.

“We do get quite a few customers coming through with $300 or $400, but not that much,” she said. “It just shows that you can get what you want if you put your mind to it and save up.”

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McPherson is already passing on the savings gene to his six-month-old daughter, Brook, with a fund of $10 of Canadian Tire money.

“I figured maybe when she turns 29, she’ll be able to buy something too.”

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