How Living Frugally Impacts Children

My 15 year old daughter enjoys browsing the isles at Goodwill. When given a gift card to an expensive store on her birthday she exchanges it online for a card that she says, "will let me get more than one shirt and a pair of jeans for 50 bucks." In those moments I feel proud of her for getting the most for her money as I know this is a skill that will serve her well in life.

Instead of playing with the latest toys, my son creates worlds and games complete with invisible friends. He is magical and often hilarious.

I can't lie though, sometimes I carry a heavy guilt that I am not giving my children enough. Just like all parents, I fall into the trap of comparing what I am doing to what other parents are doing. There are times, especially around birthdays and holidays, that I want to give my kids piles of toys. I see pictures on Facebook of ski trips and vacations to island resorts and I want to take them there.

We have chosen to spend more time at home which means not providing dance classes, karate classes, and academic preschool and instead going to local libraries, playing boardgames, and painting with water colors.

Are we depriving them of something truly significant? 

It turns out we are providing more than just extra time with the family and lessons on how to save - frugal living benefits children in more ways than I imagined.