Little Miss's life lesson - Shopping/more for your money -50 cents

**imagine** · 06-15-2010, 06:16 PM

Little Miss and I head out to go shopping. She is required to accompany me as she isn't allowed to stay home alone yet. She isn't happy about this.

What she doesn't know is there is a frugal shopping/more of your money life lesson about to happen and she is going to reap the rewards.

A while back she spent 50 cents in a gumball machine. She got a gumball she didn't like the flavor of and spit it right out. No amount of lecture was going to convince her that the gumball machine wasn't a good use of money. She just wasn't catching on that she could have bought so much more with her 50 cents.

She needed a concrete example.

So when this opportunity presented itself I jumped at it.

We head to Jc penny armed with the 10 off 10 coupon and checked out the clearance rack in the girls section, much to Little Miss's delight. She looks at everything, ohing and awing and settles on several to try on. She has a grand time spending an hour looking and trying on all sorts of things. She is having a blast. She finally settles on two shirts. She picks them because they are awesome with "diamond" sparkles and look very pretty on her. I agree they look really cute on her and I like them because they are longer cut just the kind she needs. At the check out after the coupon her total was 50 cents (plus tax). PS I knew what the total was going to be and that it would be a great object lesson.

Now she has tangible things to compare 50 cents worth with.

The yucky gumball from the machine that is long gone 50 cents.
or the two awesome shirts 50 cents.

more for your money life lesson complete!

PS if you were wondering the two shirts would have cost her $33.00 at retail price. Is that another life lesson about using coupons and shopping clearance?

**mauimagic** · 06-15-2010, 06:30 PM

What a wonderful mom and life coach you are!! Great going!!

**porembam** · 06-15-2010, 07:00 PM

Kids need to see it to believe it - good going!

**leighcat** · 06-15-2010, 07:39 PM

Way awesome!!

**mek42** · 06-15-2010, 07:58 PM

You keep this up and someday you'll offer to split the cost of a major purchase for her and she'll spend $5 to your $100 from coupons and other deals.

**Debbie-cat** · 06-15-2010, 10:30 PM

Awesome lesson! Great deal too!

**zakity** · 06-15-2010, 10:54 PM

Good job!!

**Palooka** · 06-15-2010, 11:50 PM

What a deal and a good lesson she learned.

**frugalfranny** · 06-16-2010, 12:28 AM

A great lesson for her. She will thank you for it.....someday!

way to go!

**wwe11** · 06-16-2010, 08:20 AM

What a great lesson and deal!

**ruderring** · 06-16-2010, 08:26 AM

Nice work mom!!! She'll thank you soon enough!

**Dancing Lotus** · 06-16-2010, 08:26 AM

WTG MOM! I'm trying to work with my girls on this lesson. I think she got it when she wanted a 50.00 video game and I made her work her butt off to earn the money one dollar at a time. When she finally earned the all the money she suddenly changed her mind and bought two used games with plenty of change left over.

**imagine** · 06-16-2010, 09:25 AM

Originally Posted by mek42

You keep this up and someday you'll offer to split the cost of a major purchase for her and she'll spend $5 to your $100 from coupons and other deals.

Mek- When I first read your post I couldn't decide if it was a complement or a warning.

First I thought: What major purchase would I be spliting cost with her on. Note a recent post about her brother's purchase.So proud of my son - He saved enough for a wii and bought it for the family

Then I thought: There might be a agreement on a 50 50 split on a major purchase some day. But why wouldn't the coupons and deals be split to a 50% split of the actual costs. I mean I'm always telling my mother about sales and deal and sharing free shipping codes etc. when she is buying us gifts or shopping for herself. My mom says that she likes that I'm trying to save her money even when she was going to buy the gift anyway.

Then I thought about when Little Miss will want X brand of designer jeans ( or something similar) and we say we pay this much for jeans you can make up the difference. Then if she used coupons and found a great deal so she didn't have to pay as much, I would be proud of her.

So I decided that it is a complement.

**imagine** · 06-16-2010, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by AnnK

WTG MOM! I'm trying to work with my girls on this lesson. I think she got it when she wanted a 50.00 video game and I made her work her butt off to earn the money one dollar at a time. When she finally earned the all the money she suddenly changed her mind and bought two used games with plenty of change left over.

All that hard work made her rethink how much she wanted to get for her money. WTG

Did she enjoy the two used games as much if not more than the original game she wanted?

**mek42** · 06-16-2010, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by imagine

...

Then I thought about when Little Miss will want X brand of designer jeans ( or something similar) and we say we pay this much for jeans you can make up the difference. Then if she used coupons and found a great deal so she didn't have to pay as much, I would be proud of her.

...

More like this. It takes work to find deals and negotiate. In my childless opinion, the life lesson would have more impact if she got the whole reward for doing all the work.

On the other hand, if you were the one who found the coupon or browbeat the saleperson into submission, then the savings should be shared equally. (Shared to share the life lesson - equality dictates you pocket the whole savings, but this is really part savings, part tuition at Life U.)