The Piggy Bank: Budgeting in High School
As parents, we all need a little encouragement from time to time. Sometimes it’s hard enough to keep our own lives together much less raise a functional human being who has good habits established as they enter adulthood. Let’s be honest, sometimes we feel like, “well, at least I kept my child alive today”. Success stories can go a long way to encourage us as parents to keep trying because we can see that effort does pay off! That is the case with BreAnna; she was given a budget at the age of 15 and now she is a frugal lifestyle blogger living in New York. She’s quoted as saying, “I teach people how to spend less so they can live more”.
When she was 15 she was given a check book, credit card and monthly budget of $200. She recounts, “$200 sounded like a lot at the time, especially to my friends who couldn’t get over my huge “allowance”.” But the money had to cover the expenses that a 15-year-old would have apart from costs associated with medical, sports or school. There were a couple of rules:
- 10% must go to savings each month
- Once the money was gone, it was gone—no asking mom for more
Her $200 a month had to cover the costs of the following:
- School Lunch
- Gas for her car
- Cell phone bill
- Entertainment and restaurants (with friends)
- Shopping
- Personal Care & Beauty
She says that she quickly learned what was important to her and what wasn’t. The fancy options at their school cafeteria were no longer worth the extra money, she could be found in the regular lunch line spending $2.00 on a sandwich or when going to the movies she no longer felt the desire to pay $10.00 for soda and popcorn. BreAnna states, “To be honest, I don’t remember it ever being hard to figure out how to wisely spend my money. I felt like I had a certain power by being able to choose if I wanted to save my cents or blow it all at once. By giving me a budget, I automatically had more responsibility and control over my money, causing me to become a conscious spender.”
BreAnna goes into how she was also able to build up her credit while in high school. To learn more about that and further insights to the lessons she learned please check out her blog, linked below!
Source: http://craftycoin.com/how-i-learned-to-budget-my-money/
If you are looking for more information to share with your teen, we have some great information on how credit works; check out our Understanding Credit Guide. It’s available for free download here: http://info.smcapproved.com/credit-guide