"I have a 14-year-old
daughter that I've raised frugally. Throughout her life
when she admired something, I'd point out the cost of the item
and then tell her how we could go about making our own for much
less. Then, if she really wanted the item, we made it if it was
in our budget. Some examples are:
1. Tee shirts and
tote bag with characters on them - We bought plain and used
fabric paint to create our own.
2. Specialty
foods - With a little research, you can replicate almost
anything you might eat in a restaurant. She's partial to
smoothies and thinks our homemade ones are better than any
you can buy. She also prefers homemade cappuccinos, which
required the investment of a home cappuccino maker -- $29 but
worth every penny since you can easily spend $4-5 for one
drink in a specialty shop.
3. Home decorating -
We make curtains, slipcovers and duvets to change
the look of her room and the whole house for a fraction of what
it would cost to buy new items. She's free to indulge her
creative side in her room since it costs little to buy
fabric from the dollar table at Wal-Mart and make new stuff from
time to time.
I love it when I hear her
tell a friend, 'Why waste your money on that? You can make it
for less than half that cost!' She may not always make the most
frugal choice, but at least she knows she has a choice."
~ Penny
