When we first moved in with Aunt Elaine she gave us jobs right away. She treated us kind of as one unit, not three separate girls. Except Alex sometimes because she was so cute and little and didn't talk. But Aunt Elaine didn't care which one of us did things as long as they got done. One of our jobs was to get the mail, from day one.
Danielle and I would open anything sent to our mom, to us, or to our mom about us. When Aunt Elaine realized we were getting checks she got me a bank account, slapped her name on it as the adult, and pretty much left it to me to deal with.
When I didn't understand money stuff, I would try to figure it out with Danielle and if we couldn't, we would ask one of our fire families to explain things. When we were about to move out, last May I put together two pages of notes for Aunt Elaine explaining how I do everything and giving her step by step directions for how to take over. When we moved in with Josh I set up everything and showed him what I'd done, and asked how he did his money.
Josh's parents give him an allowance - part of it goes to the account connected to his debit card and he gets the other part in cash. He told me flat out he had no idea how to pay bills or create a budget or anything. When he wants something he buys it. The end. So now he knows how to pay bills and while he doesn't have a budget me and my sisters do and he knows how to stay within it.
Today I went to a coffee shop to hang out. I overheard two grownup women talking. One had just gotten divorced and was telling her friend about how she tried to pay bills online but couldn't figure it out so gave up. They talked about how confusing it is to deal with money and how overwhelmed they get. That they bounce checks all the time and overdraft almost every month.
When I met Alex after school we came home and I showed her how everything is set up. Next month Alex is going to pay bills while I watch. Then Danielle will do it (although I think she already knows, but just to make sure). I will not have my sisters turn out like those retarded women.
3 comments:
Wow, are those women for real?
Anyway, it's good that you arm everyone with the so-called "money management" skills. My younger siblings are hopeless so far.
I don't know you, but I've been reading your blog for a while now. I just wanted you to know that I think your mom would be extremely proud of how well you take care of your sisters. Not many people would think of teaching siblings money management. They're definitely lucky to have you.
I worked at a credit union the summer after my college graduation. It really helped me understand money and the consequences of not handling it well. I got to print out credit reports and highlight every late payment, bankruptcy, default, etc. Very sobering.
In college one of my friends said she paid bills out of what was left after she spent money. It changed her life when I told her to pay the bills FIRST and only spend what was left. She was a smart woman, so its not about intelligence, just training.
I'm glad you're teaching your sisters (and Josh! LOL) how to budget and deal with bills.
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