How frugal are your children

**lilk** · 06-22-2009, 06:49 PM

I just wanted to share a couple stories about my ds's. They know I'm always looking for ways to save money on groceries, and such, so I guess they have been paying attention.

Last week, Matt the oldest took his brother skating. When they came home they both had a gallon of juice. I said, " why do you guys have a gallon of juice?" They said, "we'll it only cost 1.59 each, and its better for us then pop." I had to laugh. Their friends bought, monsters, and 20 oz of pop.

Last Friday, at the grocery store, I told ds to go get some rolls for subs. He comes back with 2 pks, and said, " they were rolled back to 2.00 each." ROFL. They make me proud.

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**MommyBliss** · 06-22-2009, 06:54 PM

Not very, but we are working on it. We just started allowances and we are teaching them to save for things and how much a dollar is really worth.

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 06-22-2009, 06:54 PM

My dd know where all the sale racks are and she'll watch for coupons for items she uses.
Ds now lives on his own and complains that there is no salvage grocery in his town.

Laurie in Bradenton

**mommyoffive** · 06-22-2009, 07:18 PM

My 4 y/o daughter is also very aware of my money-saving ways. She's been begging me to buy blueberries for a couple of months, and I finally bought some last week. She asked me, "Mommy, did blueberries go down?" And the answer was yes, they did.

**Grainlady** · 06-22-2009, 08:00 PM

My "children" are 37 and 32 and both are extremely frugal, just like us! Our son, the starving artist, was telling me yesterday about how much free food he is able to find where he lives. All kinds of free herbs he's managed to find and transplant, uses wild onions in cooking, and always seems to manage to scratch out a garden of some kind no matter where he lives. I can't tell you how many loofah sponges he grew one year, painted and sold when he was a teen. He makes some of the most amazing jewelry out of safety pins and sells it for high-end prices. I guess all those crafts at home growing up paid off, along with the professional training....(LOL)

Our daughter is a School Psychologist and has one child. Because her husband is in the Army, she is one of the best examples of a minimalist because they are often moving, and the less "stuff" you have, the easier it is to pick up and go. She can do more with less than nearly anyone else I know. They have always lived on her husband's earnings and banked hers so they will have money when he retires from the Army in a couple more years.

We're the family who has a $10 Christmas gift limit, and most of the gifts are handmade. Gift bags and gift wrap are recycled and many are homemade.

When they were kids, I tried to think of a constructive way to control TV viewing (I'm always trying to teach someone or something). We ended up giving them each a $5 roll of quarters. They could play 30-minutes of a video game or watch 30-minutes of TV for 25-cents, which they had to pay me from their roll of quarters. They could keep ANY money left unspent. It didn't take them long to see there was little value in cartoons or Super Mario, but they had to make those choices, so it was a good lesson. To this day, our son never watches TV because he said it's a total waste of his creative time. He said he can watch TV or make a masterpiece...

**pip** · 06-22-2009, 08:22 PM

Well, let's see... my oldest ds is living in a house with some other guys. They are all pretty poor, and lately he's told me about their dumpster diving for food and picking up free stuff on the side of the road!!! DD is 18 and terrible with saving her $. We have been working on her, not too successfully, but we"ll keep trying. Youngest ds is pretty thoughtful about spending his money and is able to save quite a bit at a time. Funny how different three kids can be in the same family.

**frugalwarrior** · 06-22-2009, 10:32 PM

My Ds is very frugal. He makes things from dumpter diving,trades things w/ his friends, does errands w/ friends for money. Walking everywhere he doesn't use up any of my gas and finds most other things at garage sales. He is happy to fish,take the kayak out,watch hulu,download music and movies,talk on the computer to friends he really doesn't cost me any money that way at all.

My DD is frugal too. she shops at garage sales and resale shops. She makes scarves,art projects and jewelry from repurposed things.

Both my kids get more for less concept. Better than many adults. They have been taught that there are limited funds and understand bills come first. We have worked for years on these concepts. I have confidence they will do well in the years that are leaner as people establish themselves.

**nodmicks** · 06-23-2009, 08:14 AM

My kids are both teens. 1 in high school, one in middle school. My oldest spends his $ as fast as he makes it. I hope that changes!The youngest is just the opposite saving and saving.

I laughed so hard a few years ago when I was having 20 copies made at the library. He informed me and the librarian I was just wasting my dimes because I could write the page 20's with a pencil for free.

He is constantly getting me coupons out of the coupon machine at the store.

I asked him yesterday if he had any good ideas since we need to save a lot of $ fast. He said "don't buy things you don't need". I was confused and said "like what?" He pointed to the bag of chips.

I told him I thought it would help if he wasn't a picky eater. LOL He said that wasn't happening but he unplugged the microwave and told me about learning about ghost currants from the radio.

**Momto2Boyz** · 06-23-2009, 08:33 AM

Those are some great stories! I sat here reading and just laughing!

My kids are somewhat frugal. They totally get the idea of frugality and apply it sometimes and don't apply it other times.

It cracks me up every time they ask for something at the store. I always tell them no, they pout and then I tell them that if they want to take money out of their savings account and pay for it themselves they are more then welcome. 9 times out of 10, they don't want to spend their own money on junk!

The best story was the day that I was grocery shopping with the kids, and I had put all my stuff on the belt. When the cashier got to the end, she said "oh my" you certainly have alot of coupons. I said "what?" I had bought all generics, so I didn't have any coupons. My youngest who was probably 3 at the time, looked up and said "But mom, coupons save you money!". He had taken all the coupons from all the little dispensers through out the store and given them to the cashier so we could save money!

**Bellaboo** · 06-23-2009, 10:59 AM

My kids are are still young yet but I've been trying to teach my son about all the advertising he sees and what the companies are trying to do. Now when commercials come on he says "They're just trying to get us to spend our money" I think it's a good start. I'm trying to teach him that happiness doesn't come from how much stuff you have and he's starting to see how the ads are trying to say otherwise.

**coup** · 06-25-2009, 01:14 PM

My 5 year old daughter helps me cut coupons every week!

**Gibs** · 06-25-2009, 01:24 PM

My kids are really getting the frugal lifestyle more and more daily. We Have been trying hard to get more and more into it over the last year.

DS saved his own money to buy himself a Nintendo DS....he is 5. So He saved 150 dollars and was able to get the ds.

When he graduated from kindergarten he got 115 dollars given to him from various family members. He Bought himself a bike, swimming pool, rubber boots and a pack of gold fish snacks to take to school as well as purchasing a littlest petshop toy for his sister. (the bike was an exceptional deal for 20 dollars from someone who purchased it for his grandson and it was too big, they bought it last year for 40 dollars on clearance BRAND NEW and sold it to Riley this year for 20 BRAND new.)

DD saved her money and bought a new coat a pair of shoes, some clothes and some littlest petshop toys on her own.

DS is a bit better with his money then DD is. He is always saving up for something.

They want to go to the fair this summer and with dh just getting laid off it is a slim chance of us being able to afford to go and pay for everyone....So both my dd and ds are saving their money for the possibility of going to the fair. I guess we will see when the time comes.

They both LOVE yard sales and thrift stores.......and they love coupons, they know that i have saved a lot using them.

**Gibs** · 06-25-2009, 01:25 PM

Just thought of something else, they both LOVE getting hand me down clothes.

**peanut** · 06-25-2009, 03:17 PM

My girls are 24 and 21, both with significant others. DD#1 finally caught the frugal bug last year. She is currently devouring "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" and putting it into practice. They saved up 3 months worth of living expenses and moved across the country 'for a change' (they needed it). Once there they camped on DD#2's doorstep (they have four people sharing a one bedroom apartment) for a month. Within 1.5 weeks both she and her DH had jobs. She plans to buy all her furniture and stuff to set up house secondhand.

DD#2 has been a student in this city and discovered very quickly that it was cheaper to cook yourself. When she was home for Christmas she asked for a cookbook of all my recipes. I not only printed them out for her to use in the kitchen, but also gave her a flash drive with them on it. She's been cooking and saving ever since.

**jamie79** · 06-25-2009, 04:26 PM

Ods is 20 and a college student. The boy is very frugal MOST of the time. He has a gf now so he is a little less frugal then he was because of that.
He can make $300 of fun money last for at least one semester. He pays a good portion of his college tuition
yds is 17. Not quite as frugal as ods but he is getting it. He does love to see his bank balance grow. He does like to spend the money he puts aside from his afterschool job at the DQ.
They both like yard sales and flea markets so they are on the right track