Back To School Shopping: Practicing Money Management and Decision Making.

My daughter back to school shopping went as follows:

My daughter, a fouth grader did a fashion show with her existing clothings from last year. She selected what she wanted to keep, sell, and give away. The fashion show helped us made a list of things to buy, which included a pair of shoes, two tops, five pair of pants/ short or skirt. Also, we made a list of store to shop at, which included Sport Academy, TJ. Max, Macy's, Target, or Sears. I offered and explained the total amount she has to spend on each item on the list.

On the shopping day, we went to the bank and withdrew the money. I handed the money to her , which she kept in her pocket book with the shopping list. While driving to the Mall we discussed the important of shopping based on a person's need and income. We discussed extensively on how higher education influences higher income and how good money managemnet influences wealth.

Our first stop was at Sport Academy and she made a quick decision to buy a pair of sneakers and thought of buying another pair, but released that she had one pair on her list and she did not have extra money for it. We paid for the shoes and caculated the remaining cash off hand. We went to TJ. Max. We spent about an hour and she bought two pair of pants, one top, and a backpack. Backpack was not on her list, but she bought it because she saved $30.00 from three items on the list. She bought a pair of short from Target, two pair of pants, and one top from Sears, which ended her shopping day. She was on budget and had $16.19 left for future use.

I rewared my daughter for a great job with a lunch at the Mall food court and window shopping around the Mall.The activities hepled us saved money, time, and less arguement compared to what we had last year . Importantly, an eight years old practiced money management, decision making, and mathematics skills.The most interesting thing was the young lady checking on her shopping list, money at hand, and the price tag of each item. But still, she bought a backpack bag , which was not on the list. Oh! she stayed with the budget.

The lesson, she was in charged of the money and shopping. Share your experience!

Parent Comments on "Back To School Shopping: Practicing Money Management and Decision Making."

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Cinderbell:

Thanks! One more thing, make an arrangement to go with one child at a time. This one child at a time was one of things that helped me saved time, money, energy, less argument or interruption, and created a special time with a mother and daughter.

I had your experience last year and I promised myself to be smarter this year.

This is a GREAT story!! I have 2 girls, one(the older one) thinks she is a fashion diva and wants all the "cute" or "cool" clothes.....don't get me wrong, she does NOT receive everything she wants.

I will remember this post and in the future, give her the "allowable" amount of spending money and leave it up to her. If she spends it all on a few items only, that will be a valuble lesson for the future with reminders of what heppened from me;)

Great ideas, 1seremen.

We do something similar with grocery shopping and coupon clipping. If I save enough off the bill, I point to the bottom line and show the kids where we get the money to pay for some of their extras. I've been lucky that my kids don't go for every trend in the mall OR in the grocery store, but instilling those values now when your daughter is so young will make it a lot easier when she gets older and it's harder for her to want to learn frugality.

What a great idea! I really love that you handed the responsibility over to your daughter and that she took it seriously and stayed within her budget. It sounds like this was a rewarding experience for both of you. Thanks for sharing!

Related keywords: shopping, management, money, decision, rewared, clothing

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