As probably everyone has, my husband and I have become more aware of mindless spending. Rising gas and food prices have made it a necessity. We have begun consolidating errands and swapping vehicles when my husband has distant business meetings (he has a $4.99/gal diesel). I’ve even become more efficient at creating meals with what’s left in my cupboards before running to the grocery store, much to the chagrin of my grab and go family.
Now, we have never been frivolous with our money. Our children have always been limited to buying lunch at school once a week, brown bagging it the other days. We give them an allowance with buckets for spending, short-term saving, long-term saving, and charity. We shop for clothes at our local outlet center and utilize hand-me-downs as often as we can. Still, we search for ways to cut-back.
As you can imagine, these changes have trickled down to the little ears in our family, our children. They have seen us emanate from contented consumers to concerned consumers and it’s not falling on deaf ears. Our children are feeling the fear too. They are too young to understand the implications of a recession, but not too young to recognize the increase in gas prices. My twelve year old wonders why President Bush doesn’t do something about it and questions whether the Democratic Party would offer a better solution.
But, it truly all hit home when my son stopped running his fan at night and braved sleep in the dark without a night light. When I asked “what’s up” he responded, “I don’t want to waste your money running the fan and light. And is it ok if I save my allowance until we have money again because I’m afraid we are running out of food?”
Are my children learning a valuable lesson in conservation? Am I? Maybe this recession thing isn’t so bad after all.
