Back to School Shopping: Lessons in Money Management
Yielding Wealth | Personal Finance:
It’s time for back to school shopping. This year, as my son starts the “real school” of kindergarten, we are letting him help us out in terms of choosing some of his school supplies and his clothes. This whole process got me thinking of teaching my son lessons in money management — and how back to school shopping provided a back drop for some of my most poignant lessons in personal finances.
What I learned from back to school shopping
As a teenager, I received $100 at the beginning of the school year with which to buy clothes. My parents drove us to an outlet shopping center, and we all dispersed with out money to make our purchases. If we wanted to spend more than the allotted $100, we had to dip into our own funds. If we spent less than $100, we could keep the extra.
Because I never wanted to spend more than my $100 on clothes, I learned two very important money management lessons rather quickly:
How to prioritize my spending.
How to get more bang for my buck.
I looked in all the stores, and looked for clothing that maybe wasn’t name brand. Then, after deciding what items of clothing I most needed (were shoes more important this year, or a couple more T-shirts?), I went back and bought the most clothing for as little as I could get away with. Usually, I walked away with a pretty good haul: a few shirts and a…