My Daily Dollars

Earned: $27.07    Spent: $150   Saved: $0

It’s been a busy couple of days at Chez Daily Dollars.  On the earning side, I FINALLY got a check from a survey company that I had signed up for back in April.  I wasn’t entirely happy with them, but at least I cashed out and can now cancel my account.  I also followed up on my poor travel reimbursement check; cross your fingers that the proverbial check is honestly and truly “in the mail.”

Spending includes the flower girl dress for the younger soon-to-be stepdaughter, a birthday lunch for a friend, and the Father’s Day gift for the future husband.  I must say the girls were pretty darn great while shopping for dresses.  I’m learning some good strategies for handling pre-teen girls at the mall.

 First off, we worked in short bursts.  We went to one store, then had dinner and mapped out our plan for the mall.  We decided what stores to go to and that we’d only actually buy dresses for the wedding today, but we could window-shop for other things.  By the time we got there, the mall was only open for another hour and a half and not very busy, so it was easier to manage.  

We’ve also been working on setting financial limits: each girl gets $100 for new summer clothes.  We’re having a garage sale Saturday, so I told them they could plan to add any money they earn to that amount or use it for toys.  The younger one has grand schemes for a trampoline, but would also be happy with the latest Littlest Pet set.  The older one is 12, so she has limitless ideas for cute, trendy t-shirts and tanks.   I did encourage her to shop the sales for the best value.  I also modeled good behavior by only window-shopping myself, even though I found a super-cute top and skirt at Forever 21.

Last summer, to ease my anxiety about spending so much time with the girls, I indulged them in lots of little, but expensive, treats like new toys and manicures.  What’s interesting is that they’re having just as much fun this summer with their new, frugal soon-to-be stepmom.  We had a blast taking off our shoes and wading in a nearby creek yesterday.  I think that was actually the highlight of the day because they had never done it before.  At the mall, I told the older one that one dress was too expensive, and she cooperatively put it aside.  She also did find one dress she liked that we put on hold, so now the pressure’s off as we look some more.  We may find a super-great dress or she’d be happy with the one we have.  They’re great girls and it’s nice to see that they’re willing to follow our lead as we try to implement better money-management skills!