Learning the Frugal Ropes from Mom
A crazy thing happened a couple of weeks ago. My daughter showed me that she has been absorbing all of my frugality talk. Actually, the story begins last September, when Hannah and her friend asked if friend’s mom and I could take them to visit the American Girl Place in Los Angeles. When they initially asked if we would take them, we said no. We thought that was the end of the conversation. And it was…for a while.
It turns out the girls were scheming of ways to make this little trip happen. One day, not too long ago, Hannah’s friend spent the night. At one point during the sleepover, they told me they were making a McDonald’s commercial and asked if I knew anyone at McDonald’s to whom they could sell it. Sadly, I had to tell them no. I chalked it up to pre-teen girls wanting to be famous. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
When Hannah’s friend’s mom came to pick up her daughter, the girls sprung it on us: they had planned the whole trip to Los Angeles, and they were hoping to earn money to pay for it by selling their commercial to McDonald’s.
What had they planned? Well, they had broken down the cost between driving and flying, to see which was more frugal. They chose driving. Then they did some research and found a hotel, figuring we’d all share a room and split the cost. They made sure to find a hotel that served breakfast, so we wouldn’t have to pay extra for breakfast. And they found the best internet rate. Wow.
What has my daughter obviously learned?
- It’s wise to compare costs (in this case the cost of driving vs. the cost of flying).
- Price isn’t always the bottom line (a cheap hotel might be more expensive in the end, if you have to include breakfast).
- Sharing expenses with another family is a way to cut costs.
- When making a large purchase or planning a trip, it’s important to know how you’re going to pay for it (even if the McDonald’s commercial is never going to happen).
And what did I learn from this experience?
- My daughter doesn’t have a clue how much gas costs.
- Kids are watching, even when you’re not directly teaching them.
- Sometimes frugality isn’t the bottom line. Feelings and relationships matter.
Which brings me to the end of the story. After talking with our husbands, we decided to take the girls on the trip. It’s Hannah’s 13th birthday soon, and we’re going to celebrate by doing an all girls trip to the American Girl Store in Los Angeles. We’re not driving. Instead we’ll be taking Allegiant Air, which offers very cheap flights between here and Los Angeles. We are, however, taking the girls’ advice and splitting the cost of a hotel room.
No, it’s not the most frugal trip in the world. We could have said no. But I believe this will be a great time of bonding with my daughter, and sometimes that’s well worth the money spent.
Photo by Sherry’s Rose Cottage.
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By Lynnae McCoy, on Jan 8, 2011
I'm Lynnae, wife of one and stay-at-home mom of two. I'm committed to getting out of debt by being frugal with my choices in life.
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That’s so great that you and the other girl’s mom are taking them after all! They are going to treasure that memory for their ENTIRE LIVES. Bravo!
It is great to teach you kids about money and being frugal before they get older. Most teenagers/young adults have no clue on how to manage money. My parents didn’t teach me much about money. All I learned was we never had enough. Now that I am a grown adult, I realzie my parents still don’t have a clue as to how to manage their money. No wonder I didn’t learn a thing. Highschools should be required to teach a real life money management class to all seniors.
What a fun trip that will be!!!! To me, THAT is what frugality is all about – saving money on some areas so that you can really splurge when it counts, like making a lifelong memory and bonding with your daughter! Bravo!!!
wow, you must be so proud. even tho’ she may have a lot to learn, she’s off to the right start!
Way to go Mom! AND daughters!
And…. we are frugal so we can CHOOSE how to spend our surplus…. The bonding time with daughter will be more precious than money!
Enjoy!
PS – My granddaughter recently had the same type of discussion with me and her younger brother when we went on a rare trip to McD’s drive thru….. She explained to her 8 yr old brother why the Happy Meal was not a good choice for Grammi to buy them because Grammi has to watch her money, but that they could get just as much food at a lesser cost off the dollar menu – and they already had enough toys anyway!
That’s from my 10 year old granddaughter! YES!
We did something similar last year during Spring break! We carpooled from Kansas City to Minneapolis to Mall of America. We shared hotel room with my 10 year old daughter’s friend and her mom. I had researched the area and found that if we stayed in one town at a particular hotel that had a terrific breakfast buffet that we also would receive a free entertainment book (with tons of coupons to store/restaurants in Mall of America) and free admission to the Aquarium. We actually made reservations at the American Girl Cafe and had dinner there. It was so worth it. We were only gone for two nights and 3 days (as my daughter got sick we came back one day early). Truly it was much cheaper than the ski trips, and cruises friends were taking and our daughters had something to talk about when they got back from Spring Break as well. Make the most of it as they grow up so fast!!
You could have them work on math by…have them research the price of gas, $ where you live & the final destination and take the average price of gas. Then the average miles per gallon your vehicle gets. Average, how many miles would you drive in 1 day, how long would it take to get there. They will probably see pretty quick that it is quicker to fly, even when you figure in the wait time at the airport.
totally awesome story – both what the girls did and how you celebrated them – you’ll have a great time!
When we want things desperately and we have no means of having it the easy way, we always go back to our values, the values our parents taught us. In this case, you have impliedly instilled a very valuable lesson to you daughter. Sometimes we don’t notice it but our lifestyle becomes the pattern where our children live their life.
And thank you for breakdown the lesson here. Now, I am learning as much as you daughter is learning.