Most people know, I’m one of six kids. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but we never went without too much. As such, I didn’t ever really learn the value of a dollar when I needed to. My parents did the right thing about a couple of things: once I was old enough to hold a job, it was my responsibility to buy things like CDs or books or anything frivolous. I had to pay for my own car, my insurance, and my cell phone bill. I paid for my own school and books while I was there. They didn’t do anything for me like that (they did let me move home and live rent-free for awhile, though, and despite what they think I AM grateful for that), and it’s something I will most likely do with my own children. What I hope to do DIFFERENTLY, though, is teach them to budget. That was something I was well into my 20’s before I figured out. So far my sister is the only one who figured out really young how to manage her money, and I’m not quite sure how she did that, haha. She’s just so good at everything. =)
I used to be jealous that all of my friends (which wasn’t very many, so it was LITERALLY all of them) were from smaller families and had parents that let them use their credit cards and paid for a lot of things for them. Now I feel like I have the advantage, haha. I’ve been paying for the majority of my own stuff for a long time. I used to pick fun stuff over bills and ended up with some outstanding things on my credit. With Karla, Andrea, and Andrew’s help and advice, I now have nothing lingering, and it’s a GREAT feeling. I certainly hope to do my best to make sure my children turn out like my sister: smart with money right out of high school. Living in fear of the bill collector is something I don’t wish on anybody, and I want my kids to be responsible adults that learn to pay for the things they want the second they are financially able to.
I was one of those kids that grew up privileged. Ok, I'll admit it. I was spoiled rotten. My childhood was not great, and because of certain serious circumstances, my mom overcompensated and I ended up being a brat. I still am a brat, but because of such I've had to learn things the hard way. And it sucks. It sucks bad. I still have a fair amount of looming debt on the horizon, but I've done leaps and bounds better than I did when I want in college. My brother had the luxury (sort of) of growing up a tight-ass and some days I'm really jealous of him because of that. Other days, I enjoy my shopping too much to care about it. Heh. Live and learn.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on getting things under control! One day I'll be able to say the same, but until then!