The Dollar I Earned

I do the majority of our shopping at Aldi, an inexpensive grocery store that makes you bag your own groceries and pay a quarter to get a shopping cart. 

You can have your quarter back if you return the cart to the corral, but if you don't...well, then the quarter is stuck in the shopping cart for the next person to use.

Back when I had recently relinquished my job as household budgeter extraordinaire to my husband (who enjoys it much more than I ever did), I was walking out of Aldi pushing a shopping cart bulging with newly purchased consumables, when I noticed that people were leaving their carts next to their vehicles instead of returning them.  It happened to be raining and people apparently melt in the rain.

Being the thrifty person I am, I decided that there was some real money to be made by taking everyone's carts back to the store.

I quickly loaded my groceries and then gathered up the shopping carts that were scattered in haste because of the downpour. 

I made one whole dollar that day.  A real dollar.  As I sat in my car looking at those four glistening quarters, I decided I should reward myself with some coffee from McDonald's for my labors.

I also knew that if I took those four quarters home and showed my even-more-frugal-than-my-awesome-thrifty-self husband, he'd say we'd first need to set aside a portion for the church and then spread the rest throughout the various line items in our budget.

So, I quickly hid the quarters deep in my pocket, vowing that I'd spend them before he could deposit them into our bank account. 

I bought the coffee and savored the fruit of my labor.

Sip, sip, sip.

Nate would never budget my four precious quarters.

Because I already did.  

Budgeting with Kids

Numbers, calculators, budgets...

That's my hubby's idea of a fun time.  ;)

For the first 8 years of our marriage, I did our budget.  

It was a miserable job for me.  Or maybe I just did a miserable job??  

Either way, I did not enjoy it in the least.

For the past 2.5 years, Nate has taken over our budget and, WOW, am I thankful!  He's so much better at it, and he actually ENJOYS it.  Crazy man.

While Nate was teaching the older kids how to budget using our household budget, he decided that they should have their own budgets. 

Granted, they don't have much money (we don't give allowance, but they do get money from grandparents for various holidays.  They can also make money if they do jobs for us around the house.), but he wants them to learn how to wisely use (give, save, and spend) the little that they do have.  If they can start making good choices when they are young, hopefully that will save them from making stupid (oftentimes detrimental) choices when they get older.

They were very excited to have their own budget, and I thought it was a brilliant idea.  

Hopefully they'll learn well from their wise-with-money Daddy.

Update: Front Entry Closet

I finally finished up our entryway closet!

(Click here to see what it looked like before.)

 I found an old cupboard door in the trash and turned it into a chalkboard/hook thingy.  

I bought the hooks from World Market.

I've had the green bird hooks for awhile (a gift from my in-laws), but didn't have a place for them until now.

 See?  We even use this cute little space!  :)

Hard Work, Sweat, and Socks

Our kids, for the first time ever, will be attending a formal school this year.  Okay, so it's not every day.  It's not even most days.  It's only one day a week, but to them (and me!) it feels like a big change.

We've always given them school supplies on or near the first day of school, so this year wasn't going to be much different (I thought).  Until, Emilia informed us that since they (the two oldest) were going to attend a school this year, they should have some new (or at least new to them - we like "thrifting") clothes.  Thinking this seemed like a reasonable request, I proposed this idea to my frugal husband who's response was,

"Do they need new clothes?"

I hadn't checked yet.  I was just thinking of getting them each one outfit or even just a shirt.  I was basically asking him if we had a line in our budget for such extravagances (I obviously didn't think it was an extravagant request).  His answer was clear and to the point.

"If they don't need clothes, they can earn the money to buy what they want."  (We often talk to the kids about needs verses wants.)

Nate likes to wax sentimental about his early days growing up in a matchbox house without a basement where he slept in a porch-turned-bedroom (that had no heat) in the frigid Michigan winters.  He tells stories to our kids that always start out with the following:

"When I was a kid..."  Which immediately makes the kids and I groan and laugh at the same time, but we do listen, whether from respect or just plain old curiosity.

He often shares about how he only had one black and white television.  And he had to get up to turn the channels.  With pliers.

Then we hear about how his family's cars and house didn't have air conditioning.

And he likes to remind the kids, when they're complaining about not being able to play on the Wii, that his family didn't have a microwave, let alone a VHS player or Nintendo.  Some of their cars didn't have a radio.  Tape players were for the rich.

He goes on and on telling our kids how easy they have it compared to how he grew up.  They groan intermittently and I usually add in how he even had to walk up hill, in the snow, for 7 miles to go to school.  With no shoes.   He tells them that's not true.  He had shoes.  ;)

"Our life now," he pauses, "Is so different from how I grew up.  You guys have it good."

"Our life now," I say, "Isn't that much different from how I grew up, except that I used to have central air (not window air conditioners).  And a pool."

We all laugh at the differences, but it makes us think (well, us adults at least).  Nate and I ponder and pray about how we can raise grateful, hard working, God-fearing individuals when all their needs and most (if not all) of their wants are met on a day-to-day basis.  The kids and I can be heard lightheartedly reminding each other (if there is complaining) as we go about whatever (unpaid, regular) chore we're doing at the time, to work (and work well) as we quote the verse, "The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat." 2 Thessalonians 3:10b.  We understand and believe that humans were created by the Lord to work and are most content and satisfied when they are working as unto the Lord. 

So, we decided "if you want it and don't need it, then you have to work for it" was a good motto, even for kids 8 and under. 

Conveniently, we had A LOT of yard work to do last Saturday, so it was the perfect time to have the boys work with us (Emilia was away at my parents' house).

And work they did.

Nate offered them $20 if they worked all day long with us (from about 9-5 with breaks here and there for running to the store, eating, etc.).

Tommy (2 years old) held a shovel and stayed (mostly) by our sides while the rest of us worked as well.  He enjoyed "laboring" next to us.  :)  

Matthew (4 years old) made it 2 hours and was able to earn $4.  Not so bad! 

Jonny (6 years old) made it the whole day.

Not kidding.  The kid was a machine.

I barely heard him complain.  He was pretty motivated to earn that $20 because there was something he REALLY wanted to buy with his money... 

Socks.

Not just any socks, mind you.  These were special socks with different animal feet pictured on the top of each sock.

What more could anyone want for going back to school?! 

So, he worked and worked and worked some more.  He even kept working when I got out the kiddie pool for the little boys.  He did duck his head under and run through the water numerous times throughout the humid 92 degree day, but he kept working with us until 5pm painfully came around.

He even worked a little longer because at one point, about half way through the day, I said to him, "Okay, keep on shoveling," to which he responded, "You have to work too."  (I was working, by the way.  Stinky and sweaty.  I may have been drinking water at that moment or taking a picture...) 

Nate heard Jonny's remark and calmly (but firmly) said, "Jon, $1 has been deducted from your pay.  You don't ever speak to your boss like that."

So, in order to get the whole $20 bill, he asked if he could work longer.  Of course.  I think he worked another half hour-ish (or less) past 5pm and we let him have it.

He done good.

On Sunday, both boys tithed 10% of their earnings to the Lord, proclaiming that He is ultimately the giver of all good things.

Today, I took the kids to Costco where the beloved socks reside, and both boys used their money (Matthew used the $4 he earned on Saturday plus $3 that he already had) to buy a package of 8 animal feet socks.  They immediately tried many of them on when we got home and pretended to be that particular animal.  Matthew even shared his new socks with a little brother who was excited to join in the animal feet fun.

Emilia, wanting a chance to earn money as well, worked around the house for me today doing laundry, dishes, dusting, picking up (basically whatever I told her to do), and was able to earn $7.50 (I paid her $3 an hour).

She liked the girly socks that Costco had, but after noting the price, she put them back.  She wants to save her money and earn some more to buy something she really wants.

All in all, I think my husband is pretty terrific and smart.  I can't tell you how impressed I am with the work ethic I saw displayed in our children.  I underestimate them many times.

Will we always do this?  I'm sure this will be quite common in our household, but we'll always evaluate each situation/child individually.

Tonight, I'm thankful for the wonderful educational value of some hard work, sweat, and... 

Socks.       

    

Understanding Mr. Rogers

While watching "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" when I was a kid, I always wondered why, upon entering the house, he would remove his shoes and coat, and immediately don another coat and another pair of shoes.  It seemed absurd to me, but eventually I didn't question it.  I just chalked it up to that weird thing that Mr. Rogers always did. 

Now I totally understand. 

If you come to my house, you may want to bring an indoor pair of shoes and a cardigan.

My extra-frugal husband had been hinting since we got married that we should keep the heat lower than 70 degrees in our house.  I was the one staying home all day and I was used to a 70 degree house, but I thought I'd try to save us some money and turn the heat down to 68 during the days.  Helpful, wasn't I? ;)  This lasted for a number of years.

Then we started preparing for the day he was going to quit his steady job and start his own business (doing the same stuff that he was previously doing).  We revamped our budget, cutting out some things to see how frugally we could live in case we didn't get a paycheck for a substantial amount of time.

Being the kind soul he is, he never once suggested we turn the heat down because he knew I liked a warm house.  But one day he came home to a red nosed, bundled up wife.  I decided I'd try to turn the heat down to 60 degrees.  After all, 60 degrees feels mighty warm after a cold winter, so how cold could it really be?

Let me tell you...COLD.

However, the human body is an amazing thing.  This is our second winter living in 60 degrees and I'm (mostly) used to it.  My fingers still get cold and my nose is even cold right now, but if I stay moving, I'm pretty warm.  In fact, whenever we go to another house, we're often embarrassed by the redness of our cheeks and the perpetual sweating that occurs because 68 degrees, to us, is HOT.  

You may be wondering how the kids do with the lack of heat?  They run around barefoot, sometimes wearing "muscle shirts" (Jonny) and leotards (Emilia).  Yes, they're way less affected than I am - shivering if I've forgotten the extra layers.

So, if you're ever coming to our house, pretend you're Mr. Rogers, and bring a warm cardigan and indoor shoes.

"Won't ya be my neighbor?"