In the mean time I want to share a special moment that Joe and I had w/ our kids last night. A moment that made us both a little proud!
Joe and I have both made some poor financial decisions in the past, and its unfortunate that we both love to shop and spend money! However, 2009 put a big stop to all of that for us and we are now facing the consequences of our poor spending choices. In Feb. we were introduced, by our church, to Dave Ramsey's plan for financial freedom(www.daveramsey.com). He does offer a course that we have not yet had the opportunity to take together because it's usually during weeknights when Joe works. We also have to consider child care when we do find it on a Sunday. Anyway, Joe downloads his daily radio show off of his website and we try to listen to it together. I will be honest though, I was not into listening at first because it was ALL Joe talked about and all he listened to!!! He literally walked around the house w/ his MP3 player and two speakers listening to it (loud enough so that I could hear) ALL THE TIME! We drove to El Paso, TX last February and thats ALL we heard all the way down there and a good bit of the way back home! We couldn't have a conversation w/out Joe talking about getting out of debt and doing everything according to Dave Ramsey! I was over it before I could even get into it! LOL!
Finally, once Joe allowed me to come around on my own time (about 6 months later), I was on board and listening. I actually went online and purchased us tickets in September to go and see Dave Ramsey live! It was awesome and we both TRULEY believe in this guy! He is an awesome christian man and explains how important it is to give, save and buy w/ cash...NO CREDIT! Never become slave to lenders!
Although we are still dealing w/ our financial struggles....these days who isn't?! We can't wait until we are in a position to give even more and save!!! We quit using credit cards last February and, believe me, it has been a real eye opener for us to pay for everything in cash...somehow it just seems to evaporate on its own!!! ;) LOL! We are now learning to budget, but more importantly trying to teach our kids the importance of handling their money correctly!
Back in September, when we saw Dave Ramsey live here in Atlanta, we purchased Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace Jr." for the kids as a christmas gift! It comes w/ a collection of books, envelopes, and charts. It's really awesome and the kids are really into it!
Well, last night AJ was really choppin at the bits to get us to sit down and discuss the Financial Peace Jr. together! Keep in mind, AJ and Aleigh both have quite a bit of money that they have been holding on to for some time. They have earned some of it by doing extra chores around the house, and the rest is gift money from their Grandma Rojas and Tia Mayo!
Both AJ and Aleigh ask for things all the time and we either tell them to wait for christmas, their birthdays, or buy with their own money! They, almost never, opt to use their own money!
One of the tasks they were asked to do was to write down a list of things that they want and then both Joe and I would help them figure out the ONE thing on that list that they wanted to save up for. At first they both had a few items on their list. As we began to discuss what they wanted to spend their money on the most, suddenly neither one of them wanted anything! We went on to explain that its ok to reward yourselves w/ your hard earned money but whatever they decide to do w/ their money is THEIR CHOICE nobody else's, not even mom and dads! We have talked to them about the fact that we feel it's important to give and how rewarding that feels. However, I personally feel that it's even more important to INSPIRE them to WANT to give. I don't want to make them feel guilty or force them to do anything w/ their own money! We have taught them, and they have learned from church, that the bible asks you to give 10%. I still refuse to decide for my children what they do with their money! I explained that if they don't want to let of go 10% and want to give a little less, that was entirely up to them.
The next thing we knew the kids had brought their money downstairs. They layed out their labled envelopes (GIVE, SAVE, SPEND) and AJ pulled out a $20 bill (10% of his money), w/out hesitation, and stuffed it in his GIVE envelope! Then Aleigh shows me a $50 bill and a $20 bill that she had pulled from her wallet(she had a little under $200 total in her wallet). She holds out the $20 bill and says "I want to give this to our church." She then holds out the $50 bill and says "This is what I want to give to St. Judes Childrens Hospital!" My heart filled w/ pride because we have never even discussed with the kids about giving to anyone other than simply giving to our church or anyone we personally know that is in need. Aleigh says that she feels sad for the kids on the commercials who are sick and need medicine so she wants to help! We tried to encourage her to just start out w/ giving 10% and save the rest. She was very strong in her decision, but we are still giving her a little time, just to be sure. We want to make sure that she isn't just trying to please us.
The next thing both AJ and Aleigh did was to take the rest of their money and put it in their SAVE envelope! Joe and I both were like "Isn't there anything you would like to have or buy w/ your money?" and they both responded "No, we don't need anything!" AJ went on to ask how much money he needed to save to purchase himself a car when he turns 16! He said he wants to save $14,000 so he can pay cash for his car! I then explained to the kids that if there is something they are wanting that maybe they could wait and ask for it for their birthday or christmas. Aleigh's response was "No gifts! I don't want anything! Can they just give the money they would spend on a gift to someone else who needs it?" YES!!!
5 comments:
Wow Steph! Amazing!! It's a testament to you and Joe and your teaching. I'm pleased to know you. I wish we were closer!! Maybe someday right?
That is fantastic! Dan and I don't use credit cards and try to keep between 5 and 10 grand in savings. At first this was so incredibly difficult because it meant giving up a great deal! But, now that we've done it for about 6 years, we have been so blessed! Times when we have been out of work, we've had to draw on that savings. Also, being LDS, we are encouraged to keep 1 year of food storage. I don't have that much but I do have several months worth and that has also saved us from using credit cards and such when times are hard! Having financial peace makes life so much better!
I love how you are teaching your kids to give! I need to be better about that! Every Christmas, we seek out someone in need and have the kids help in giving, but doing it on their own, because THEY want to is key...I like your ideas. You guys are amazing!
One last thing I learned from a woman in our church...she was at the store with her little girl and her little girl wanted a candy bar or something like that and so she asked her Mom to get it for her and she would pay her back. It hit this lady that is what credit is! I do that with my kids all the time! I talked with my oldest kids about this and told them to bring their wallet with them the next time they went to the store or I wouldn't be able to buy it for them. It's been a good change!
I applaud you!
Amazing! I just love those kids! And all that shows is that they have wonderful parents who have taught them to care for others! Great job Steph and Joe!
Steph,
It is the hardest thing to get control of. Only you two have the ability to do and I glad to know that you have found a way to do it. Go you two and bring the rest along. Love ya.
Amazing, those kids sure luck to have two great parents to teach them values like you have. They are learning early in life the feeling that you can get to give to others, even if it is to the church. I'm sure the church uses it to help others who need it. Keep up the good work, you are doing a Great job and the fact that you are also learning young will make the rest of your lives alot better too!
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