Budget Memories

Over my teenage years, like most teenagers, I was receiving an allowance from my parents. It was not a large sum, and I was feeling I was deserving more – don’t we all? After some hesitation I decided to go and ask them to increase it. Their answer baffled me. They asked me to prepare a 3 month budget including all my expenses; that meant including the ones they were paying for. Only after would we negotiate my allowance. I didn’t believe it. Not only did I have to wait 3 more months to get more money, but I had to prepare a budget !?!?

To make a long story short, I complied with their request and did get my increase; not as much as I wanted though. But what I learned through this helped me a lot more than getting a higher allowance; by going through all the expenses I had over 3 months I realized how much money I could spend without even realizing it – sweets, video games, bus ticket and clothes were all accounted for. It opened my eyes. I still thank my parents today for this lesson.