CASH DIET

At the beginning of the month I told my six year old and my husband that we were on a “cash diet”. With the economy the way it is, I think that we need to tighten the spending belt and eliminate our frivolous spending. No more daily trips to 7-Eleven for a Slurpee™, no more eating dinner out five times a week, and no more “prizes” when we go grocery shopping. It is amazing how much money you can save just by cutting those things or reducing them. I am embarrassed to even say how much money we spend on non-essential items each month.

I didn’t realize that my daughter translated this as “we are poor” until a couple of weekends ago when she went to a friend’s birthday party. Upon picking her up, the mom told me that she was still laughing because my daughter told her that she was going to have to sell some of her colorings to earn money for us because we have a house that costs $25,000 (whole other story!) and we were poor. She continued to tell her how we were on some kind of diet! I could have died, but I laughed instead.

Last night I was looking through old pictures I had scanned on my computer when my daughter saw my high school senior picture and asked me to print a copy out for her. I did, thinking she just wanted it to look at. Later that evening she came to me and said, “Mom, I think you need to print me out a bunch of these so I can sell them to the neighbors.” I just started laughing! I told her that she did not need to go door to door selling my picture. Could you imagine that? I mean, I know I looked good, but really, how much money would my picture bring in?

It does warm my heart that my daughter wants to contribute to the family budget. Kids need to learn that money does not grow on trees and that you don’t get everything you want when you want it. I told my husband we need to help her set up a Lemon-Aide stand so she can feel like she is contributing. At the same time I don’t want her to worry about our finances. It is a difficult lesson to teach a child especially when she is used to getting everything she wants.

The funny thing is that this morning when I got up I saw that she had hung my picture on the outside of her bedroom door for all to see. What can I say? My daughter loves me! Am I lucky or what?