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December 18, 2007

Lily'S Money Tips for Kids

So I decided to take what I've learned from trying to smarter about my money, and all of the research I did, and put it together into a little booklet, but first I thought I would try our some sections with you to see if you had any ideas on how to make My Money Tips for Girls better:

 

Tip 1:  Pay yourself first

 I took 10% of my allowance (that $1) and put it aside.  I hid it in my closet in a special shoebox.  (I figure I can tell you since you won’t be coming to Riverton anytime soon.). I am supposed to do this every week and never ever, ever touch this money, so it can grow and grow and grow.  Unfortunately, that didn’t work (see Tip 4).  So now I know.
Split your money up this way
70% for everyday expenses
10% for my fortune
10% for the future
10% to share

 

It was harder to make do with even less than before, but slowly as I put more money into the different buckets, I realized it was ok to dip into the future for something I really wanted, especially since it made me really think long and hard about whether or not it was worth it.

 

So that's Tip 1 - let me know what you think.  And this week I am doing so much better with my allowance.  I actually didn't touch the dollar I put away in my do not touch box.  And like Rose suggested, when I wanted a magazine, I stopped by the library, read the story and then put it back.  I got what I wanted for FREE! Pretty neat.

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Later,

Lils

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December 10, 2007

Lily - Where did all the money go?

So the end of the weekend came and went, and I tried and I really tried not to spend all my money.  But I did and then some.  If $5 hadn’t shown up from Nana, then I’d have been in trouble.   I guess I shouldn’t have gone to the mall, right.  I mean if you’re trying not to spend money, then you shouldn’t go to a place that’s all about getting you to spend more.  Funny how I never noticed it before, but all I could seem to see this weekend were the posters and the flyers and the announcements that seemed to get you to spend $10 instead of the $7 you wanted to in the first place.  Every little place always asked if you wanted to get two instead of one for just a little bit more, or if you wanted the grande size instead of the regular size.  And before you even in know it, the $2.50 is gone, so is the $1 I took from it’s hiding place and promised to use only and only if I really, really needed it., plus the extra $5 nana sent me.
The $8.50 was gone before you knew it.  On headbands (I only meant to buy one, but somehow I wound up with 3 for the price of 2) and a caramel decaf mocha latté.  Grande.  I knew I didn’t need it, any of it, since I have like 20 headbands already
Arggh…
So a full accounting:
In
  Out
What I Spent it On
 $   10.00
 
 Allowance
 
 $    1.00
Savings
 
 $    1.75
pens and pencils
 
 $    3.25
hot chocolate and a cookie
 
 $    1.00
Donation
 $    5.00
 
Gift From Nana
 
 $    8.00
3 headbands and a latte
 $   15.00
 $   15.00
Total In/Out
 Total left over:  
 $        -  
That’s  0 a big, fat 0
Ouch – guess I didn’t do such a good job.  I spend everything I had more.  And I feel bad for even getting the dollar out if it’s super secret safe hiding place.  Guess I need a better hiding place…
Abby and Dr. Smith say I shouldn’t give up.  They said to try maybe just putting .50 cents in my super safe box and see if that makes it easier to forget about it at first.  And Abby said that maybe I should go to the library more, since it’s free, instead of the mall, where I may be tempted.

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December 07, 2007

Day Four - Tracking Expenses

Well it’s almost Friday and I only spent a dollar yesterday. I am not sure where or how, because I forgot to bring my notebook down, but I think I dropped it in one of those collection buckets for the holidays.  I know it’s for a good cause, but I am upset I can’t remember where it went.  And, maybe, just maybe I also bought myself a candy bar…
So technically I have $2.50 left. For the weekend.  Plus that extra dollar I hid away and said I would never, never ever touch….
I can feel it calling to me, in that little box up in the closet, but I suppose at this point, another $1 wouldn’t make that much difference, and I am better off leaving it there, right?
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See ya,
Lils

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December 05, 2007

Lily's Day 4 of Where does my Allowance go?

So today, I managed not to spend any of my money after all.  It helped maybe that I left it at home so I wasn’t tempted by anything.  Well I was.  There was a magazine I really wanted because it had a story about Hannah Montana on it.  But Daisy made fun of me, so I didn’t get it.   The Rose pointed out that I could probably go to the library to get it.  Well, it wasn’t there but one of my other favorites was, so I found out something.  You can take all but the current issues home with you.  I wound up taking like 7 different ones home, even ones I had never thought about before, including one about personal finance and starting your own business.  I thought it would be good research.

So today, according to my notebook, I still have $4.50 left for the week…
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See ya,
Lils

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December 04, 2007

Day 2 of Lily's Money Slim Down

Lily’s Third

 

Ok, so I have been using my little notebook.  So far I put $1 or 10% of my allowance in a safe place.  Then I spent $1.75 at the school store.  Today I spent $3.25 on a cup of hot chocolate at the coffee shop after school.  I stopped there on my way to the library.  Rose said that I didn’t really need it, because there’s always hot chocolate that Abby makes.  But this one has whipped cream and sprinkles on it.  Of course, it was gone like that!

 

So far, $4.50.  That’s half my money!  And the week isn’t even half over.  Hmm, this little notebook is a really a good idea. 

 It's amazing how fast your money can go.

 

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December 03, 2007

Money Tips for the Junior Set

So I have been doing so much searching on the internet for MoneyGirl section of our GirlMoguls power site.   I listed a bunch of links I found in my last post, but now, instead of just searching for links, I am trying to take all the information and make sense of it.  Rose says that if you just jave all of these facts floating around but you never know how they fit together, then you might as well not have the facts at all.  
So my first idea was about an allowance.  I get one every week and sure enough by Wednesday it’s gone.  And I am always begging my mother for some more money.  She keeps saying things like “Money doesn’t grow on trees” or “I’m not made of money.”   Sometimes I get more money and sometimes I don’t.
So I thought it would be great if I could get through a whole week and still have money left over.  I also thought it would be nice to know where all my money went.    So here’s what I learned:
Tip 1: Pay yourself first.  I took 10% of my allowance (that $1) and put it aside.  I hid it in my closet in a special shoebox.  (I figure I can tell you since you won’t be coming to Riverton anytime soon.). I am supposed to do this every week and never ever, ever touch this money, so it can grow and grow and grow.  
Tip 2: I got a little notebook (I was going to buy one, but then I found an old one I had lying around that I didn’t even know about).   I use the little notebook to write down everything I spend.  At the end of the week, I’ll had it all up and see how much I spent and what I spent it on.
Monday - $1.75  at the school store (cute pencils and pens).
More tomorrow.
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