In the past year or so, Lindsey has become obsessed with money. She loves coins in particular, especially the large ones. You know, the ones that are worth the most. (US coin sizing does NOT make sense, by the way: the largest common coin, the quarter, is worth the most, followed by the SMALLEST US coin, the dime, which is worth the next largest amount. Huh??)
In the past six months she has been extremely adverse to getting herself dressed in the morning, even though she is 5 and perfectly capable of doing it. So a month or so ago I began paying her a quarter a day when she gets herself dressed with no complaints, and an extra dime if she makes her bed. This has clearly been the incentive she needed, because she dresses herself perfectly every day, and most days she forgets to ask for a quarter for doing it actually, which works out well for me.
Over the last 6 weeks or so she's gained quite a little pot of money and kept bugging me to go to Walgreen's so she could spend it. She didn't have enough for much for a while, but she finally got together $3.20 cents, so I told her we could go this past weekend.
We got to Walgreen's (one of her favorite stores) and she was literally atwitter with excitement. She traipsed and giggled down the aisles until she got to the one she wanted, the one with TOYS on one side and OFFICE PRODUCTS on the other. Oh heaven!
I showed her how to read the signs so she could figure out what she had enough money to buy: anything that started with something under $3 (gotta figure in tax, you know).
She began scanning the aisle and realized quickly the small percentage of items in the store that were affordable to her. She started by looking at a toy that was $4.99 and asking if I could chip in for the rest of it with MY money. Nope, not the point, she's got to be able to afford it herself. So she went back to scanning the prices, scanning and scanning, then when she found something she could afford she'd look at what it was and determine if she wanted it.
Keep in mind this is the reverse of how most of us shop: first we look for what we want, then we look to see how much it costs. Lindsey's shopping style opened up the universe to a plethora of things she could afford but would never want: paper clips, envelopes, pens, action figures, balls, etc. The variety of choices was overwhelming to her, and I could see that she might make the decision to not buy anything at all she was getting so overwhelmed. (Which is also an okay decision, in and of itself.)
Long story short, she finally settled on one of two items: a lip gloss tube for $2.49 or a small box of Oreos for $1.99. She finally decided on the Oreos because it cost less and she'd have more money left over to buy something big later. I was impressed by her frugality and logic; she came to that conclusion herself. I told her she didn't have to share the Oreos with the family if she didn't have to since she bought them with her own money. But once we got home and she saw how many cookies there were, she proceeded to hand some out to Wayne, Marissa and myself, and saved some for her lunch box the next day.
I was very proud of her for figuring out what she could afford and going through the exercise of spending and saving her money.
I remember being a teenager (not old enough to work yet) and my mom telling me how much I could spend on back-to-school clothes. I think the budget was $100. So I could spend $100 however I wanted, but that was all I was getting, no more. What did I do? I bought the cheapest jeans I could, I bought non-name brand clothing but I got more of it. I started shopping at thrift stores, getting as much as I could out of my money as I could.
I wasn't the most popular kid in the school, but I don't think I wanted to be, either. I wanted to wear my old man plaid sports coats that I bought at the thrift store -- I wore a worn army jacket in the fall and spring, and used a backpack I'd gotten at an army surplus store in Arkansas for $5.00. (I used that incredibly sturdy little backpack 3 of my 4 high school years. It never wore out, I just got tired of it.)
My folks never bent on the rules: I could ask for more money, but I knew the answer would be no, so I don't know if I ever asked. I hope to instill a lot of the same money sense in my kids. I think 5 is a good age to start.
Here's Mom to keep the record straight. At some point in time in high school you both were allowed $50.00 a month to spend on clothes. I think it was while your Dad was still at home -- which would mean at least during your freshman year. That was still very much a learning experience 'cause a very nice coat could cost $200.00. That went on until early 1992.
ReplyDeleteBut you really learned to pinch pennies in college. I remember you saying you were so tired of being broke. I think of that often and think of people who are probably living that broke again today -- at least for awhile. It would be really hard with kids because we want to much for them.
I was really impressed with Lindsey when we shopped at Evans last summer because she really looked until she found something affordable and that she liked for under the $10.00 she had. (I may have put in a bit for taxes, but that's what Grandma's do.) Pretty soon she's going to be wanting to get her hands on those cash gifts that she gets for Christmas and birthdays.
Well, here's Dad's two cents. Your mother taught me the value of budgeting. When we were first married you cannot believe the financial edge we walked. Yet, she budgeted by keeping a little crib in the back of the checkbook where she had a record of what she deducted out of the account amount shown in the register.
ReplyDeleteI can remember saying from time to time I wish we could go out to eat and she would say we could. She had set aside a little each paycheck.
One of the things we did right off the bat however was save money. I forget the percentage, but every check a little went into a passbook account. You might want to think about a small savings account for Lindsey and eventually Marissa. I think it is an important lesson to learn about earning interest.
After all, it was Einstein who said the most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.
Good lesson, I'm proud of you.
I'm proud of you too, and your parents......lucky girl!!!
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