Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Spending Money on What I Value

Recently I heard someone I greatly respect say that kids won't listen to what you say, they will do what you do.

Part of that involves actually doing what you want them to do. You know, exercising instead of watching TV and telling them to exercise. Reading instead of surfing the internet and telling them to read. Giving money away instead of shopping and telling them the importance of charity...

And an even trickier part is spending your money on what you value, so your kids can see it in action.

My kids are filling a box for my daughter to bring back to school for charity. LOVE that school!

Getting your kids involved in giving charity. Ask them where you think you send your money, and see what they say!


The other day, May 6th to be precise, I asked my 5 year old what she thought we spend our money on. Here are her answers:
  1. Charity (tzedakah in Hebrew)
  2. Her School
  3. Her Brother's School

So, I give us an A for conveying our values of giving to charity and education to our kids. Hooray!


Just for fun, here is where we actually spend our money:
  1. Housing
  2. Education
  3. Charity
  4. Food
  5. Exercise, Recreation, etc. (gym, pool, skiing, biking...)
Not too shabby, given that we are trained as architects and our built environment is incredibly important to us:)

What would your priorities look like? Real life versus ideal? Or what would your kids think? Ask them and let me know!


Jessica



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6 comments:

Cassie Bustamante said...

i spend money on good causes, and things that better my life and make my life richer... and by that i mean experiences. we are currently spending money on our kitchen, but i do think that will improve our quality of life and we spend so much time together as a family in there, so it will improve those experiences.

Kirby Carespodi said...

We spend the bulk of our money on our four mortgages--three of them are "retirement funds." After the company my husband worked for was sold, we lost all of his retirement. As I had been a stay-at-home mom, I had no savings. It has not been easy, but we made sure our kids graduated from college debt-free. So, I guess we've spent most of our money on housing and education. And charity, if you consider our kids a charity.

Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication said...

It's great that your daughter knew where most of your money was going and that you've instilled in her that it's important to give to charity!

Most of our money goes to our student debt, but if we didn't have to pay that $2,000 every month then we'd spend it on ourselves. Bad us.

Lori said...

That's incredible that you are instilling in your children the value of charity and giving to others who have less. In today's "me-first" society, it is such an important thing to teach the next generation.

Kelly said...

I love this reminder! We do a lot of giving in our house but it's not visible to the kids. We need to find a way to change that!

Unknown said...

This is best to understand value of money is more essential...this is such a nice post of you...


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