It doesn’t matter what you feel, this is what you are showing them.

There is nothing wrong with doing this occasionally. However you may want to think that another message is taking a portion of it for the fun, or show how they can take some of it and save (budget) for something better down the road.

@ Kacie
You might also look into G Diapers as a middle ground – they are basically cloth diapers with a disposable (even flushable!) insert. It minimizes the amount of waste you put into landfills and the amount of laundry you have to do. I guess I’m in the minority when I think that cloth diapers are probably feasible in your situation, though – yes, newborns are demanding, but a useful secret to know is that nursing a newborn in a sling while taking a short walk is pretty much guaranteed to put them to sleep ;-) Even that walk down to the laundry room might be a much-needed energy boost on the days when you can’t even think about washing your hair, Congratulations!

I’ve been thinking of my commitment to saving money like a diet. I know I could try to put every spare penny away towards debt and savings, but in the end I’ll “fall off the wagon” and be back to square one. I think the same philosophy can apply here.

I’m sure those nights were fun, but it wasn’t fun for my friend when they didn’t have enough money to send her on school trips (not overnight, fancy trips, just in-town fun excursions), to pay for athletic equipment to participate in team sports, or to pay for college applications.

Mindy, it’s wonderful that your kids’ happiness is a priority. You can also make them happy by having enough money on hand so that they can enjoy those kind of everyday experiences that my friend often missed out on.

I love the idea of having a fun factor built into your budget. I haven’t done that — it just ends up coming out of the grocery budget, so it doesn’t really get tracked and thus controlled.

I would hate for my child to have a big opportunity in the future that we couldn’t afford because instead we had frittered away our pennies at dollar stores and fast food joints.

What children deserve is to have parents that spend quality time with them. I don’t know how many times I’ve bought things for our kids that only get played with for a few days. Now I only buy them toys at Christmas and birthdays. Of course, I buy them clothes as they need them. But in all honesty, what’s the point of a wardrobe full of clothes that only get worn once or twice?

To this day i still always close the lights when i leave the room, if i dont, i hear my dad’s voice. i still dont turn on the air conditioning until i cant stand it, even then just for a short time.

The point is I never blame my dad for instilling such frugal habits, even though I nagged about it growing up. Now that I am on my own, I can really see the returns and it adds up.

Another side effect of my dad’s frugalness that rub off was that it made me watch my money very very carefully. When I left college the only debt I had was student loans and even then it wasnt that much. I didnt borrow or use one cent from my parents even though they always tell me to ask if I did need it.

For those without kids, I recommend having your “let’s go blow our extra cash” days on the day BEFORE you get paid. That way you don’t feel guilty, and don’t blow $$ you need for other things.