This is funny but it's not..lol

[mommy4ever]

Since we bought the RV last week, we're doing some trimming to the budget. So I decided to we needed to talk to the kids and explain we are going to trim the budget, plus with the increases occuring in groceryland, I felt that it's important they understand.

WELL, when I told them we had a loan for the trailer, and mom and dad want to pay this off asap, by not only making payments but extra payments coming from the spending money budget, dd11 understood perfectly. She told me that the more we pay, the less money we pay the bank in interest. DD9 couldn't care less, and ds14 was in TEARS. Then in trying to explain to him, that it was fine, it didn't mean they wouldn't get a little spendin gmoney or the occasional movie, etc. It was the same as the mortgage, just we'll pay it off much faster. Now he was sobbing. He kept saying he thought we had more money than that. So I took him aside and found out that he thought that we just had the money in the bank when we bought the house, that we just paid cash. That the trailer we just had the money in the bank and paid cash...ROFL. OH my. Now at this point, he thinks we're in the poorhouse, going to live on the street because we have a loan and a mortgage. This was blowing me away.

So we went online and looked at various sites that show household budgets. That a mortgage and a car payment are pretty standard payments in most homes. We don't have a car payment, though we will have an RV payment now. He calmed down. He just thought we paid everything cash. Cars we do. We buy cars in distress and dh fixes them. But the poor kid had his bubble burst. I told him his grandparents had a mortage, and aunts and uncles did as well. His one uncle doesn't, he pays rent, but there is still a lodging expense to be paid. He calmed down. We speak of the mortgage all the time. He didn't get it. How dd11 got all if it and he didn't I'll never know.

Anyway, the kids are on board understanding that they'll still get sports activities, but there won't be treats afterwards unless we pack them from home. DD4 will be the hard sell, but if I have a snack packed she's normally good. I can get a .20 treat from the dollar store and she's happy. Poor thing spneds many hours at the rinks in the winter. We also had the discussion that lots of things are doubling in price. Flour has already done it over the weekend. Darn it..lol. I'll have to track some more down that hasn't been marked up yet. The 2 oldest will be doing some baking. I explained that while their baking is delicious and cheaper than buying, let's not eat it all in one day, Make it last. Once a day is plenty for baked goodies. That I expect they don't be wasteful in their lunches. I see lots going in the garbage because they pack too much. I'm hitting the goodwill to get insulated lunch boxes as I have ice packs. So unused can go in the fridge for the next day. They seem to be ok with that.

Poor guy though. I told him paying cash for a house is possible. But it would take quite some time to save. He also though an income of 35K was ALOT of income. Didn't realize that was under poverty line for a family our size(we're not in that income range at all). He had his bubble burst for sure. I'll have to start involving him in budgeting soon. I think he starts part of that as his grade 10 curriculum, so that'll be a time to hand him the receipts and tell him plan the budget for the next month..lol

[peanut]

Ooooh...poor guy. It's so hard for the boys I think. Some day they're going to have to work hard to pay for all this. Sure, women work now too, but it gets hard when the kiddies start arriving. Maybe stress some life planning with him...education first, then a job, then a wife, then a family, then a home. At least we did it that way. We didn't see the need to have a home when the two girls were little. We rented...and saved money for a down payment on a house.

We too, have always paid cash for our cars. We had a hand up from my FIL, who traded DH's old Toyota truck for a Chevy Impala. We didn't want the Impala (it was too big for me to drive), so we traded it in on a Toyota Tercel 4WD. I'll never forget that kindness of FIL. It made it possible for us to own a vehicle outright, with no payments.

Jean

[cissylu]

Bless his heart it does sound like he was very upset.
my dgs is 16 and he still doesn`t have the concept all of the time.

[mmy2grls]

lol poor guy

My oldest think we're rich because we have a debit card, doesn't realize that takes away from the money we have already. Then she tells me to get a card with free money lol

[jones10021]

poor guy. I feel his pain.

[FrugalMomof3]

Poor guy, so glad you straightened things out and now is he is more informed... maybe he will be one of those kids who pay cash for everything and wont have any debt

[mombottoo]

Kids you just have to love them ! I too am surprised that at 14 he didn't realize that your family has bills that need to be paid...must be that money tree thing that my kids thought we had in the backyard when they lived at home !