Thanks for joining us again on part 4 of teaching kids to spend!
J and I have been going to various stores and doing some comparison shopping, so if you missed any, check out the previous posts about buying generic vs. name-brand products, looking at price differences between stores and buying in bulk.
Today we’re going to take a break from going to the store (whew) and talk about other ideas for spending wisely.
We’re halfway through our five part series on teaching kids to spend. (If you’ve missed any, start here with post 1.)
Today we’re talking about buying in bulk.
This activity and conversation doesn’t focus on stores where you can only buy in bulk (like Sam’s Club or Costco). Rather it’s just an experiment on larger vs. smaller sizes at the same store.
Like the previous times, we headed to Target and J chose five items to compare — Claritin (it’s allergy season, yo), Tide, Viva paper towels, Chobani yogurt and Heinz ketchup. He wrote the item, the price for the smaller size and the number of units, then the price for the larger size and the number of units.
We did all the calculations at home for price per unit, but just so you know, it’s price / units.
So for example, the smaller package of Claritin was $17.99 and there were 20 pills. $17.99/20 = $0.8995 or $0.90 per pill. The larger size was $23.99 and there were 30 pills. $23.99/30 = $0.7996 or $0.80 per pill.
The larger size won in all cases except Tide, where the results were a tie.
So does that mean we should always just buy the larger size? Well… not necessarily.
If you were here last time, you read all about our adventures comparing generic to name-brand products. (If you weren’t, go check it out now!) That was the first post in our five part series of teaching kids to spend.
Today we’re talking about comparisons between stores.
The wheels have been turning since I wrote my last post, If I Could Teach My Child Just One Financial Lesson, It Wouldn’t Be To Save (spoiler: it would be to spend wisely). And I really enjoyed doing a five part series on saving, so I thought, why not do another series on spending?
J and I have been going to various stores and doing some comparison shopping, so the first three posts will be the results of our research, including practical advice and lessons about spending. Specific topics will include buying generic vs. name-brand products, looking at price differences between stores and buying in bulk.
Post four will include other ideas for teaching your kids about spending, and the last post will be more philosophical in nature — do I really need to buy this?
When I first thought of this idea, I mentioned it to J and he said, “What does generic mean?”
Wait, what?
Last week I saw a tweet from Adam at Money Savvy Daddy that said, “If you could teach your child just one money/financial lesson… what would it be?”
I love to learn what people are teaching their kids so I was eager to read the responses. Not surprisingly, many people said, “Save!” Saving is definitely important, but saving without context… how can that be successful? What are you saving for?
Just activated our @FamZoo cards! #finlit
How We’re Teaching Our Preschooler About Money https://t.co/HmKm1J8o3L via @rockstarfinance
