We Can't Afford That.....

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Miss Sarah and I saw the move Judy Moodie: Not So Bummer Summer the other day with the Kids Rule summer film series for $2 and one thing jumped out at me: When Judy was asking her Mom to go here....do this.....do that, the reply was "We can't afford that".

Being a fruglaista - I like to think of myself not as cheap, but savvy.
I know the value of items and look for a better deal, making the family dollar go further. I also want the message to my daughter to be a one of great stewardship of finances vs. the thought that we don't have any money. Choosing how to spend it, not that there isn't any to spend.

I played a game with her during the All You Magazine challenge: she would ask for something at the store and I would tell her how many packages of strawberries (Her absolute fav!) we could get instead and let her make the choice.
---Example: She wanted a $4 box of fruit snacks that had only 8 packets in it and that small box didn't seem so great when she realized that it COULD be 4 quarts of strawberries instead. (They were $.99/pack at the time).

She caught on quickly and would start asking me "How many packs of strawberries would this be?" It was an easier concept for her to grasp than the actual dollar amounts as she is simply to young to "get it".

I also thought back to the mid 70's - when I was a kid under 10 years of age and my Mom was a single parent. I knew we weren't as flush as others but never felt like we were poor. I NEVER heard her say "We can't afford that..." (but we couldn't, LOL). We had a fantastically happy time!

Just a friendly little note to keep your message clear to your kids:
We need to let them be kids and have fun without worries of adult financial stresses, but we MUST teach them fiscal responsibility! The schools don't and a lot of people might not have gotten so deeply buried had they known just a little more.

OK, enough rambling from me for now - what do you do to get this message across to your kids?

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