Even a 14-Year Old Can Understand Dollars and Sense
May 29, 2013This week’s blog post comes from a very special author: my 14-year old daughter. As a parent, you always wonder if your children are listening and as my pediatrician would always reassure my wife and I, they hear us just fine. Proof of this can sometimes come in the most unexpected of ways.
Take, for example, a recent trip I made with her and my wife to the local hamburger joint. Rachel, my daughter, made a comment about how much it cost to eat out and wondered if eating at home would be as expensive. Seizing the opportunity, I challenged her to consider the question and then to write about it in her own blog post. The following is the product of her and her alone; perhaps proof that the proverbial apple does not fall far from the tree:
Eating Out?
Today I went out to lunch with my mom and dad. We ordered two combo meals and a burger. The meal cost us $18.00. Later that day I had a thought. How much would that have cost if we had eaten at home? So I went to my mom and asked her that question. “Oh, about $5.00,” she told me. Wow. Buying hamburger patties, buns, french fries and a drink from the store is way cheaper than eating out.
Let’s say a family of four go out to eat. Each member orders a combo meal. Each meal is $5.00. That’s $20.00 in all. This family goes out to eat 4 times a week. That’s $80.00 a week, or $320.00 a month [per average month]. There’s a different family who does the same, only this family goes out to eat 1 time a week. They spend $20.00 a week, or $80.00 a month [per average month]. See the difference? It’s the same meal, but family 1 eats out so much they spend way more money than family 2. Family 1 is SPENDING about $3,840.00 a year where as family 2 is SAVING $2,880.00 a year.
I go to school with kids that buy school lunch. I pack my own lunch. They spend an average $3.00 for their lunch. Mine costs about a dollar. For 5 days a week I spend an average of $5.00. The other kids spend an average of $15.00. This difference may seem big or small, to each audience their own, but think about the long run. I’m going to be driving soon, which means I will have to save up for a car. That $40.00 [a month] I saved on my lunch can really benefit me for the car or gas. The kids that bought school lunch don’t have that [extra] money.
Now that you have read these paragraphs I have some tips for you:
1. Don’t eat out so much.
Sure, eating out is nice but it is also nice to sit down with your family and enjoy their company. (While saving money at the same time)
2. Don’t buy that extra cookie. (Don’t spend more than you have to)
When I’m at school I sometimes see kids get 2 or 3 cookies instead of one. To them it’s, “Oh, a dollar a cookie so I’ll get two.” It may seem harmless but that extra $5.00 a week adds up to an extra $20.00 a month, which adds up to an extra $200.00 a year.
3. Instead of eating out have a snack break.
You know how it is when you get hungry [in the middle of the day] so you grab a coffee ($3.50) or candy bar ($1.00). Well, that’s ok once in a while but if you do it often it really adds up. What you can do is you know when you get hungry, so instead of buying one candy bar buy a box full and keep one in your desk or purse for when you get hungry.
I must admit that I am very proud of her ability to intellectualize something that even for adults is very mundane. I’ll continue to challenge her to consider the “opportunity cost” of many of the financial decisions our family makes over the course of the summer so don’t be surprised if you happen to see this “special guest blogger” appear again. In the meantime, you might want to encourage your own teenager to follow her example. In fact, if you have a teenager that would like to ask a fellow teenager a financial question, let me know. I’m sure I could coax Rachel into a reply.