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Show me the moneeeeeeey!
We are currently appealing decisions made about my disability which epically affect our finances. So at the moment things are tight. In the house all you hear me saying lately is "not just yet" or "maybe in a few months when things are sorted out " and "i can't stretch to that at the moment, hunny". It's horrid to say no all the time but you only have to watch the news for 5 minites and see that actually your life could be alot worse. So we're making the best of things but it's also an opprtunity to show the kids that you don't need money to be happy (although if someone wanted to gift us £1M I wouldn't say no). We're not a rich family anyway so we have never been able to just go and buy the latest games consol or phone, we don't go to eat at fancy restaurants or buy new clothes every week. We don't buy brand name foods and usually buy second hand furniture. We save for things, buy in the sales/secondhand, or find alternatives. Sure like most people we have a credit card but we try to only use it for something we really do need or an emergency trip to the vets. So it's safe to say our children are not spoilt brats. And it shows! Our son who is 8 now, has been saving for over 2 years for an xbox one because we already have an xbox 360 (bought in the sales) and I said if you want it you will have to save for it because they are just too expensive to go out and buy one. So he did. Birthday, christmas, easter, pocket money, tooth fairy money, you name it he saved it. He eventually got really close to his target but then the Nintendo Switch was launched. All thoughts of xbox one went out the window. The only drawback, he needed to save even more. But last month it happened. He had finally saved enough money to but it. We searched online for any post xmas sales but there were no deals on the colour style he wanted which meant he had enough for the console with actually a little left over but it wouldn't include a game. He was so disheartened that I didn't have the heart to make him save even longer. He has done so amazingly well that we put the rest of the money towards buying him the Mario Odyssey game. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I think it's important for children to learn the value of money, and he certainly has. Our youngest daughter loves to spend her money and doesn't care how much things cost. When I try to explain that an item might be a little over priced, lets see if we can get it cheaper in another shop or online, she will not wait and just go buy it anyway. She certainly knows her own mind and has always been the same, strong willed and there's no telling her. Where as our oldest girl is alot more reserved about her money. She wants to buy things but doesn't like not having much in her piggy bank. So her theory is to over save so that she can buy the things she wants yet still have a good amount left over. They are all so very different but I love their take on saving and spending. We're very proud of them all.