A little boys purchases

Anytime Rhett has money, it burns a hole in his pocket. He’s recently had bday money as well as some cash from the tooth fairy. She pays pretty well here at our house… :)

One day, we were in the mall and  he purchased these cool blue shades :)

Another day, he really had some cash to blow.

Here were his choices:

A new hat.

Yes, Razorback fans. That is what you think it is. The boy hasn’t stepped foot in Texas in his life. For whatever reason, he’s always said the Longhorns was one of his favorite teams.

We get to the hat store for him to buy a NY Yankees hat (what he wanted to go to the store for in the first place) and left with this. I figured I’d take a ribbing for it (from his daddy and his grandma mainly…) but I thought, “Hey- it’s his own money. It’s a stinkin’ hat. What does it really matter??”

So, I approved the purchase. And I got ribbed :)

And my favorite of his purchases. Some Converse All-Stars.

I told him I wasn’t buying new shoes until August when we’re getting ready for back to school. It’s my rule. Who wants to go back to school in ratty used up shoes? And I’m not buying 2 pairs of tennis shoes back to back for no good reason. There are plenty other things I’d rather spend our money on! The boy loves shoes and frequently will use his own money to buy cool shoes.

He wears them all the time and loves them. Plus, he’s just as cute as a button in them :)

In the summer, my kids have daily/weekly chores that they do and, in turn, the earn an allowance.They always have to keep their rooms clean and put away their own laundry. But in the summer, they also fold and put away towels and socks. Switch loads of laundry, dishes, trash, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, dusting and even cleaning their bathrooms- toilets and all. They really do work pretty hard for young ones. (They are always too busy during the school year, so they don’t do as many chores then. They don’t get any compensation for chores done during the school year.) If the work is done satisfactorily and without whining throughout the week, they each receive the dollar amount equal to their age on pay day.

That $8/week will surely be burning a hole in his pocket all summer! In an effort to help him not buy $8 worth of junk every week on payday, I’ve been withholding his pay the past couple weeks. I don’t often carry cash… so, I’ve been keeping a running tab and I will go get some cash soon so I can pay them what I owe them. The bright side is that I’m helping him save up a little bit more so maybe he can get something nicer!

Update since I wrote this post: we went camping and I gave him his back pay of $20 the 2nd day we were there. He tried not to spend it all and just bought one thing at a time from the gift shop. But, by the time our 2 days was up, he was B.R.O.K.E :)