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My Kids and MY Money!!

January 15th, 2011 at 11:46 am

I am on Day 12 of financial sanity and it feels wonderful! Due to my tracking every penny and not spending frivolously, our checking account is almost overflowing. Also, I sold enough Ebay items that, coupled with my fat checking account, I think I may be able to pay off the $3,600 we own on one of my DH's cars! Then we will have just one $9,600 car payment left to whittle down.

KIDS! One of my problem areas is my kids. My two grown boys are truly WONDERFUL human beings...smart, hard working, honest, giving, kind young men, and very frugal...WITH THEIR OWN MONEY!! As I mentioned recently, on the spur of the moment I gave my older son a $10K no interest loan for graduate school...OUCH!! For the past two years we have also been automatically funding $100 for each kid in a ROTH IRA. I'm fine with the ROTH, but here's the deal.

The kids think mom and dad are rich and they are used to me being very free with the money. My DH is out of town on business for a week so my younger son has decided to stay at home with me in his absence. Well, for the past 12 days I have been eating at home and had hoped to do that this week too. Well, my son called last night and said, "Hey, why don't we go to dinner?" Against my better judgement I agreed thinking that he doesn't get a treat like that very often. We had a very mediocre Mexican dinner out and I spent about $21.00 I didn't really want to spend.

RESOLVE. We are going to eat at home for the rest of his visit. I am even going to tell him that after Christmas expenses we are trying to watch it a bit. I have lots of things already in the house we can eat and I think I will purchase some french bread and salad and make some muffins. I have a frozen lasagna downstairs, I made some beans and rice and I can also make a pretty decent bean soup. I also have frozen chicken breasts and can make some quick parmesan chicken. I HAVE TO STOP LETTING MY KIDS PROMPT ME TO OVERSPEND!!! MY NEXT LESSON TO TACKLE!!!

8 Responses to “My Kids and MY Money!!”

  1. mjrube94 Says:
    1295098779

    Congratulations! I've been following your posts and it sounds like you're doing a great job! As for your son, if he's frugal himself, he may completely understand when you say you're trying to watch yourself so you can pay off the car loan. (Tying it to a goal may help him see the "why" of what you're doing). Good luck! Can't wait to see what happens...

  2. ThriftoRama Says:
    1295103651

    Well, that first paragraph is all good news! Not sure what to do about kids. I'm not quite there yet. Mine are still toddlers and don't know what money is.

  3. Savings Queen Says:
    1295103755

    Loved your idea mjrube! It does make me nervous to be more honest with my son about watching my money, however, I need to remember that part of my job as a parent is to teach him about money which definitely includes teaching him that money is not endless and that you have to stay on a spending plan to get ahead. Surprisingly, this bit of honesty with him will be a little hard for me, but I am going to do it. He doesn't know it but he really wants me to spend wisely now so he doesn't have to support his mom and dad some day!!

  4. laura Says:
    1295105378


    The only benefit of having limited money for extraneous money and kids that are 13,12,8,6 and 5 is that they are learning early on that we plan for our splurges and they expect nothing in a timely manner! Smile

  5. MaryB26 Says:
    1295108990

    Congratulations on your savings! It's a great feeling to be free of some of those bills.Smile My DS thinks I am his bank. LOL He loves to eat out as long as we pay for it.

  6. Savings Queen Says:
    1295111669

    Mary, You are so right about that! The kids just LOVE to eat out, but not with their money!!

    Laura, I wish I had taught my kids from a much younger age about delayed gratification. When the kids were younger our money really was tight, but for some reason we never let them know about that, or budgets or really much about money at all. What a lot of learning opportunities they missed out on! I am amazed they somehow turned out to be like their dad in terms of spending. Both my sons naturally delay gratification. THANK GOD THEY DIDN'T GET MY SPENDING GENE!!!

  7. Thrifty Ray Says:
    1295121449

    I clicked on this post because of your title...you and I seem to have much in common with kids and money. I have started telling mine that the bank of mom is CLOSED. Smile Good luck on your financial goals!

  8. Savings Queen Says:
    1295124413

    Thanks Thrifty. Unfortunately the mom bank around here has NEVER closed. I think it's time the kids opened their own banks!

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