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Friday Jun 23, 2006

life on a budget

When I was a befriender, my kids learned a variety of things - using chopsticks, snowboarding, horseriding - but probably the most important skill of all had to be budgeting.

With just £15 to spend most weeks, it was challenging to find enough dosh to splurge on dinner and a movie complete with munchies, so we always had to watch our pennies. Fortunately, we were allowed to 'bank' money from week to week so with a bit of planning and cheap-n-cheerful outings, we could save up enough to treat ourselves.

Once my girls got the hang of it, they became master penny-pinchers. The girls quickly moved from the easy challenge of saving cash for the cinema and learned that by setting a goal and figuring out a budget it was easy to be getting manicures, lunching and soaking up the rare Edinburgh sun with Starbucks in hand. Now, I don't want anyone to think we lounged about doing nothing and walked aimlessly during our outings in order to save up - we still went to art galleries, went swimming, challenged each other to vicious games of badminton and chatted over weak cups of tea in the cafe- but it just became part and parcel of our planning.

So, I feel confident that even though they're studying at college and thus perennially broke, they took away from befriending the lifelong skill of budgeting and are able to boost their mood by saving up for the occasional decadent splurge of manis and Starbucks!

Posted by Dana ( 6:57 PM )
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