A few nights ago I came home to the neighbors having quite the birthday party for their one year old; tons of balloons and food, children’s music on full volume, a candy floss station and huge bouncy castle!
While my reaction was shaking my head a bit over this extravaganza and but also thinking their enthusiasm was kind of sweet, they probably also had their thoughts about the rather big plastic swimming pool we bought our kids just days before.
It got me thinking how we are all so different, with different priorities and that is often what guides us when me make decisions – also (or especially) money wise! Also, I think that often we are more freely spending money on our kids than we are on ourselves. It could be that it is because that they have more wants and needs than we do (or just express them more loudly) or that simply we as parents have great joy in getting them something that they really want.
I can say for ourselves, that even though we are greatly blessed with grandparents who help us greatly with providing most of what we need concerning clothing and toys, we often find ourselves buying something for the kids, just because we know that they will be happy with it (like for example the above mentioned pool!)
This week I found this blog about a UK mother who decided not to use any funds for her kid for a year. Pretty impressive is what I think! It got me thinking, that even though we are budgeting all our funds and also the expenses for the kids, we still use too much, and I am sure we could also make them happy on much less. I think the trick is to be more creative and start to think about what we can do for less, or nothing at all. Clothes can easily be passed on and received from others, the internet holds thousands of ideas for cheap crafts and also, there are so many activities to do with kids that doesn’t cost a thing…..
We are going to try this pool
And we are looking forward to it 🙂