Stretching a Dollar (or Five)

Mamaw and Papaw are gone for several weeks. They've officially become snow birds with retirement and have "flown the coop," yet they haven't forgotten completely about those precious grandchildren that are freezing here in Indiana. Meghan and the other girls got a "miss you" card in the mail the other day that had a $5 bill in it. Meghan was insistent tonight that this $5 be spent on a toy. I wasn't really up for an outing since we were having company for dinner, so I tried to avoid it. There was no diverting her, (not even her goat friend in our basement could get her mind off of spending her $5 bill!) I told her that the only place I would take TONIGHT was Wal-Green's since it's about 30 seconds from our house. I also explained that they have a very limited $5 toy selection and that if she'd wait, I'd take her to Wal-Mart tomorrow after school where they "Roll Back Prices" and she could get a much better deal with her 5 bucks. Nope! She wasn't having it! She had to spend that money TONIGHT! So...off we went.

Here's how our trip went:

We walked in. Beauty department is first. Meg spies a decorate your own nail kit. "Mommy, how much is that?"

"$20, Meghan, you only have $5."

We move on, finding the very short toy aisle, where she proceeds to ask, "Is this it?" Uh huh! She points out many more things she's just dying to have. A baby in a stroller. $39.99. A Barbie hairstyle head. $10.99 High School Musical something. $15.99. Princess Tea Party Set. $20 (She just got one of these for Christmas I might add!) The list goes on...you get the picture. At this point, she's pretty discouraged. I told her again, that I'd take her to Wal-Mart or she could save her money (gasp...what a thought!?!?) and she could buy something bigger when she has more. Nope...she WILL buy something TONIGHT for $5 at Wal-Green's. Finally, she sees a pair of Snow White Dress up shoes. They're red and match her Gabriella dress up dress she got for Christmas. How much? $3.99. Sold! She very proudly walks up to the counter, plops her shoes and money down and makes her purchase! Whew...that $5 is gone...but the story isn't over just yet.

We get in the car to come home and she says, "Mommy, I can't wait to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow night. I wonder what I'll pick out there!" I had to explain that the money was gone. She told me that I could go to the bank and get some of her money out for her so she could get some more things. We had a nice little talk that the money Mommy puts away in her bank account isn't going to come back out to buy toys on a random night at Wal-Mart. Was she a little disappointed? Yep, but when she got home and put on her new $5 dress up shoes, she forgot all about it! Is this outfit just perfect now or what?