I love my daughter's high school economics teacher. As a long term assignment that will last for several months, he has given each high school senior an imaginary profile to work with. My daughter's economic profile is that of a single mom with two kids, she makes 17,000 a year, gets 600 a month child support, has a car payment, car insurance, utilities, rent, gas, groceries, a cell phone as well as two imaginary credit card bills.
She was also handed a fake check book and register. She has to 'pay' her monthly bills to the teacher, pay a baby sitter for day care, explain her budget, etc. She has set due dates for all of her bills to come due on a monthly basis and if she is late to pay her teacher, she is penalized with late fees. If she doesn't take care of her kids, he slaps her with a visit from CPS and she has to 'hire' a lawyer to defend herself in court and pay for that out of her pretend budget.
If she doesn't keep up with writing everything down in her check register, she gets points taken off her grade. He will occassionally throw some unexpected expenses to the kiddos, things like the baby gets sick, you have to take off work to go to the doctors office and buy medication or you have a flat tire and have to buy a new one, etc. So you have to budget for an 'emergency fund'.
Not all of the kids in his class have this particular profile. Some profiles show they are married with a mortgage. Some have a good career but are paying off school loans, some are rich, but they also have a lot of expenses to keep track of. Some are single and self employed. He has a wide variety of circumstances and economic statuses dispersed through out the class room. Pretty much like real life.
I LOVE this teacher! This is the closest thing to a real life budget most of these kids have ever gotten. So far my daughter is doing really well in this assignment. No surprise there! She has been working a part time job at a local radio station since she was a freshman and four years later in her senior year is still working there. She saved enough money to buy her own car. She has several thousand in the bank. She has a certain amount she has to budget out for her personal use, some for gas money for the two weeks between paychecks, entertainment funds, school stuff she wants or needs to purchase, etc. She has been learning that there are economic consequences to her decisions since she got paid her first check.
Unfortunately very few of her friends grasp this concept since none of them have bought their own car. Few have held a job for over a year. Even fewer are financially responsible for buying their own gas. I think that all kids should be brought up understanding the reality that being responsible with money is taught, until it becomes a constructive habit.
I hope that there are more teachers out there like this guy. Mr. Ward, as a parent my hat is off to you!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Two Simple Rules to Life
Lately I've been hearing a lot of talk about 'going back to a simple way of life' due to the current economic recession and cut backs. I have to say, it's had me scratching my head over it.
The reason for my apparent befuddlement is because I have pretty much always lived a simple way of life. That by no means implies a life of poverty! It does however mean that I have always lived within my means. I don't subscribe to magazines, follow the latest styles, or even spend much time shopping at Walmart, K-mart, or Target. That doesn't mean I dress like a frumpy old lady or live the life of a hermit. I just decided a long time ago not to spend money on things that don't thoroughly enrich my life or add to who I am as a person.
I guess this lifestyle started early, shortly after getting married at 19 and having my first child at the age of 21. I had to learn how to live within a budget. I guess for a lot of people living within a budget means 'doing without'. Just as time is relative, so is money. I think living with in my means has caused me to live an examined life. It means being connected to something bigger than myself and finding creative solutions to problems.
Right now my biggest bug-a-boo when it comes to unnecassary items is the cell phone. I can live without a cell phone. I refused to carry one for years. At the present moment I only have one because my husband bought it then insisted I carry it in case of car problems. Since he had already bought the blasted thing I reluctantly started to carry what I call 'the electronic leash'. I rarely use it. I often forget to charge the darned thing. While most of the world spends their lives with cell phone in hand fervently texting eachother with trembling fingers, I happily leave my phone in my purse and forget that I even own one.
Personally I think cell phones are ushering in the decline of good manners. I can't count how many times I have been talking with someone and our converstation is interrupted by their phone ringing or by a text that they just have to answer. Then there is the occassional idiot at the movie theater who might go into withdrawl if they shut their phone off. I have seen people answer their phone in the middle of a crowded theater and then carry on a lengthy conversation during the film much to the irritation of the people sitting around them. I also know way too many parents that 'parent' via cell phone. Why not just put a computer chip implant in the kid, that way you can track them easier when they aren't at home? (Yeah, I know. Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor, but it is humor none the less!)
Another pet peeve is I have a lot of friends that believe that if they don't eat out at a restaraunt several times a week they are deprived. !????! I spent over a decade of not eating out except for once or twice a year because it was cheaper to cook at home for a family with three kids. Growing up in a family with four kids, I can remember my mom going to Micky-D's, ordering four hamburgers, one large coke, and one large french fry. We four kids had to split the fries and the drink and we thought we were eating like kings because we got to eat at a fast food restaraunt!! We simply didn't have the money, so we at simply. That means at home. We also ate very well! My mother was an excellent cook and was able to turn ordinary ingredients into filling and nutritionally sound taste experiences. I learned from her that not having a lot of money didn't mean you had to do 'without'. You learned to do within reason and within a budget. You had to learn a value system.
I had one friend who was really put out over the fact that their current economic situation meant that they were no longer able to eat out. I just nodded my head and sipped my coffee as she droned on and on about how unfair things were and how she deserved to treat herself on occassion (meaning several times a month). As I said, I just sipped my coffee and kept my mouth shut. She didn't want my opinion. She wanted sympathy, which I'm afraid is in short supply since life is requiring people to act in a responsible manner. If you ain't got the money, keep your arse at home. It's really hard for me to be sympathetic to that plight. Now if she had no food at home, had no way to buy groceries, she was eating beans and rice 7 days a week to stave off starvation...yeah, I would be sympathetic and more than willing to offer her food from my own pantry. However I'm not going to waste perfectly good sympathy on somebody sniveling and whining because they didn't get what they want or what they feel they deserve simply because they didn't feel life was not being fair to them.
There are two simple rules to life. (and happiness)
Rule Number One: Life isn't fair. (If life were fair I would be a size 3, twenty years younger and a natural blonde.)
2. Get over it. (This is called 'developing character' for those of you who have none.)
The reason for my apparent befuddlement is because I have pretty much always lived a simple way of life. That by no means implies a life of poverty! It does however mean that I have always lived within my means. I don't subscribe to magazines, follow the latest styles, or even spend much time shopping at Walmart, K-mart, or Target. That doesn't mean I dress like a frumpy old lady or live the life of a hermit. I just decided a long time ago not to spend money on things that don't thoroughly enrich my life or add to who I am as a person.
I guess this lifestyle started early, shortly after getting married at 19 and having my first child at the age of 21. I had to learn how to live within a budget. I guess for a lot of people living within a budget means 'doing without'. Just as time is relative, so is money. I think living with in my means has caused me to live an examined life. It means being connected to something bigger than myself and finding creative solutions to problems.
Right now my biggest bug-a-boo when it comes to unnecassary items is the cell phone. I can live without a cell phone. I refused to carry one for years. At the present moment I only have one because my husband bought it then insisted I carry it in case of car problems. Since he had already bought the blasted thing I reluctantly started to carry what I call 'the electronic leash'. I rarely use it. I often forget to charge the darned thing. While most of the world spends their lives with cell phone in hand fervently texting eachother with trembling fingers, I happily leave my phone in my purse and forget that I even own one.
Personally I think cell phones are ushering in the decline of good manners. I can't count how many times I have been talking with someone and our converstation is interrupted by their phone ringing or by a text that they just have to answer. Then there is the occassional idiot at the movie theater who might go into withdrawl if they shut their phone off. I have seen people answer their phone in the middle of a crowded theater and then carry on a lengthy conversation during the film much to the irritation of the people sitting around them. I also know way too many parents that 'parent' via cell phone. Why not just put a computer chip implant in the kid, that way you can track them easier when they aren't at home? (Yeah, I know. Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor, but it is humor none the less!)
Another pet peeve is I have a lot of friends that believe that if they don't eat out at a restaraunt several times a week they are deprived. !????! I spent over a decade of not eating out except for once or twice a year because it was cheaper to cook at home for a family with three kids. Growing up in a family with four kids, I can remember my mom going to Micky-D's, ordering four hamburgers, one large coke, and one large french fry. We four kids had to split the fries and the drink and we thought we were eating like kings because we got to eat at a fast food restaraunt!! We simply didn't have the money, so we at simply. That means at home. We also ate very well! My mother was an excellent cook and was able to turn ordinary ingredients into filling and nutritionally sound taste experiences. I learned from her that not having a lot of money didn't mean you had to do 'without'. You learned to do within reason and within a budget. You had to learn a value system.
I had one friend who was really put out over the fact that their current economic situation meant that they were no longer able to eat out. I just nodded my head and sipped my coffee as she droned on and on about how unfair things were and how she deserved to treat herself on occassion (meaning several times a month). As I said, I just sipped my coffee and kept my mouth shut. She didn't want my opinion. She wanted sympathy, which I'm afraid is in short supply since life is requiring people to act in a responsible manner. If you ain't got the money, keep your arse at home. It's really hard for me to be sympathetic to that plight. Now if she had no food at home, had no way to buy groceries, she was eating beans and rice 7 days a week to stave off starvation...yeah, I would be sympathetic and more than willing to offer her food from my own pantry. However I'm not going to waste perfectly good sympathy on somebody sniveling and whining because they didn't get what they want or what they feel they deserve simply because they didn't feel life was not being fair to them.
There are two simple rules to life. (and happiness)
Rule Number One: Life isn't fair. (If life were fair I would be a size 3, twenty years younger and a natural blonde.)
2. Get over it. (This is called 'developing character' for those of you who have none.)
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