CHAPTER 36HOW TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN THE VALUE OF MONEY
BELOW is a copy of a letter given by a woman to her young daughter on the day of her Commencement. I wrote it, at her request.
It would have been more economical for her if she had brought her daughter up in these same ideas. But it is never too late to mend, better Commencement Day than Wedding Day, or never!
The same idea has been used with several other persons I know of, both boys and girls, and it has worked like a charm. Most young people only need a little direction in this matter, and a little encouragement to practice and keep at it, and they soon begin to reap the joy which comes from doing anything well.
After the habit is formed it is no trouble to so manage money that it affords a constantly increasing savings account, in addition to the solid satisfaction of COMMANDING one's income and one's self.
In the next chapter there is a second letter, a complement of this one, a letter which is helping several boys and girls to work out their own salvation.
Here is the letter, which was headed: FOR MARY June 25, 1910 Believing that one of the essentials to a happy and successful life is the knowledge and practice of properly managing money, and Believing that every girl should learn this as well as every boy, and Believing that in order to learn the management of money every girl must have an allowance and certain necessaries to buy out of that allowance; that she must learn to manage money by doing it when she is young, and while her mistakes need not be too costly, Therefore, I have resolved to celebrate your Commencement Day by making you an allowance of per month — with a few strings attached! To facilitate the learning of proper management of money, I will for six months pay your allowance in four equal installments on the 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th Saturdays of the month. This will enable you to avoid getting into a big hole toward the end of each month through being too reckless near the first of the month. Now for the strings: First, you are to so manage your money as to keep entirely free from debt. You are to buy nothing at all until you have the cash in hand to pay the entire amount. Second, you are to ask for no extra money to make the allowance larger, nor even hint for it! And you are not to make a single complaint about the amount being too small! You see the lesson you are to learn is the lesson of getting along cheerfully inside of your allowance. When you have learned to do this well, you may find your allowance gradually increasing, but until you thoroughly learn this lesson your allowance is to be rigidly enforced and no increases even hinted at. Third, you are to buy with your allowance a certain number of the necessaries. This plan will enable you to so manage money as to make due allowance for necessaries before you invest in luxuries. After a little practice you will find that you need in all things to make yourself a perpetual allowance to cover THE UNEXPECTED which is never twice alike but is always cropping up in every person's life. The Unexpected is dead sure to happen every day, and your allowance to yourself should be great enough to enable you to meet it without strain — without getting into debt and with a little surplus over. If you do this you will be happy and satisfied in your heart over all your business expenditures. If you do not make sufficient allowance for the Unexpected which is always cropping up, you will be everlastingly regretting expenditures after you have made them, and you will always be unsatisfied and unhappy in yourself. Good management of money will eliminate a very great many unpleasantnesses and unhappy feelings, and the little things you do without you will never miss in a week's time! Command your desires as well as your money, and you will increase your happiness fourfold. Out of your allowance you are to buy all your necessaries, including hosiery, with the exception of your dresses, hats, and coats, and whatever underwear and shoes / consider necessary. Beginning with your Commencement Day I will give you the allowance payable as hereinbefore stated. And I promise to give you the free use of this allowance, provided you keep your end of the arrangement. Also I agree to let you learn by your own mistakes, and to refrain as far as possible from criticizing your expenditures or adding any more strings to those already mentioned. Every girl makes mistakes and every girl learns by those mistakes. I am aiming to give you the opportunity to make these mistakes and learn by them while you are still young, while the expense of such mistakes cannot be so great as it might be later.
If at the end of six months, you have managed your money so as to keep well inside the debt line, at the same time looking out well for the necessaries before spending on the things which are less necessary, I will increase your allowance and turn more of the necessaries over to you to be managed as you will; and I will likewise pay your allowance all in one installment at the first of the month, instead of in four installments.
Signed, _______________________________________
HOW TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN THE VALUE OF MONEY (Continued) >
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