I am teaching my children the frugal way of life. My daughter (20yr. old) is in college and needed dressier clothes for student teaching. She went to a church rummage sale and spent $2 on 2 stuffed full brown grocery bags.
My son (17yr old) just came back from the mall and said he saw this neat London Fog wool coat. Too bad it was $250. But it was at a store offering 35% off plus his friend works there and can get another 25% off. I told him I was just at the consignment store and saw a coat I wanted him to see. You guessed it, London Fog wool coat $18. Needless to say we bought it. He wore it last night and got lots of compliments.
Dh and I have shopped frugally for years, using coupons and buying reduced meats if they are marked down substantially. We get "excited" when we see carts of marked down items in the store. Our 3 daughters used to tease us about this but now all 3 shop this same way. I'm proud to see them shopping for value and savings rather than names brands.
I have to share: the best deal we ever got was pure timing. Our local Winn Dixie meat department had over ordered chicken breasts and had marked them down to .29/pound! We stocked our freezer as well as our oldest daughters. (We both have separate freezers)
Jayne
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I'm constantly trying to explain to ds1 why we're so frugal. I try to make it a positive experience, as opposed to "Mommy is stuck hanging laundry while everyone else gets to use a dryer because we can't afford a high gas bill." It's tough, but he understands most of it. He's only 5 and gets a small allowance. We let him buy whatever he wants, but once his money is gone, we don't just give him more. I'm constantly amazed at how much he's picked up--he asked last time to go to the thrift store because the toys are cheaper there. He's also asked to go to the discount store because their slurpees, candy, etc is cheaper than the gas station or the grocery store. We're also trying to teach him about buying quality so stuff doesn't break, but I think that's beyond him right now lol!
I'm working on getting him to turn off lights, turn off the tap, etc. Keeping my fingers crossed that by the time he's on his own it'll be practically inate!!
Oh yeah--he's getting it, all right! He asked his grandma this past summer where her clothesline is. When she said she doesn't use one, he said, "But it's FREE, and smells good, too!".
They do learn. Our oldest son (20) just bought his first house. We stocked his kitchen for him to get him started. He didn't need to shop for almost a month after he moved in. He told me he was going to stop at the store on the way home but he had forgotten his coupons. He said he had $20 in coupons at home and wasn't gonna shop without them!!!!! I was so proud. He used to tease me about being frugal, using coupons, looking for deals, thrift store shopping, etc., but he learned quite a bit, it seems.
Yeah, it's amazing how things change once it's not "mom's" money paying for it lol!! I'm in the reverse situation--it's my mon that teases me about living frugally. I don't quite get what she finds so amusing, it's not like she had a choice, and will be the first to admit that my kids are better off(better food, nicer clothes etc) than my sister and I were. But she's proud of me--she tells her friends all the time about my nice house and roomy yard. She even found homes for our extra produce when we had too much squash, cukes, tomatoes, etc! She's not a coupon clipper(always buys store brand) but was amazed when I gave her a stack of coupons for free cat litter and box liners, and a number to call to get a free swiffer wet jet. She thinks I do well even for living the way we do, so I'm glad.
Katie, you should be proud of your son! My dh took forever to realize coupons are not an embarrassing thing lol!!
Special Member of the Family
Yeah, it's amazing how things change once it's not "mom's" money paying for it lol!! I'm in the reverse situation--it's my mon that teases me about living frugally. I don't quite get what she finds so amusing, it's not like she had a choice, and will be the first to admit that my kids are better off(better food, nicer clothes etc) than my sister and I were. But she's proud of me--she tells her friends all the time about my nice house and roomy yard. She even found homes for our extra produce when we had too much squash, cukes, tomatoes, etc! She's not a coupon clipper(always buys store brand) but was amazed when I gave her a stack of coupons for free cat litter and box liners, and a number to call to get a free swiffer wet jet. She thinks I do well even for living the way we do, so I'm glad.
