His First REAL Purchase

Late last summer, Mr. J spent some time with his cousins.  They both have Nintendo DS systems, and he decided he wanted one.  He asked me if we would buy him one.  My answer - NO.  I told him if he wanted one, he would have to save up the money for it and could buy it himself.


He and hubby were out one day and saw them, so they looked at them and checked out the pricing.  For the DS, he would need $129.99; hubby did some more research, and decided that he should get the Nintendo 3DS XL - which had a price tag of $199.99.  We decided that if he could save the money for the regular DS, then we would put in the rest so he could get the 3DS XL.

We counted his money, and he had approx $75.00. Over the last 4 months, he has saved his allowance and added any money received from his grandfather as well.  He did take $20 and buy something at the grocery store, but other than that he saved it all.

left: money in hand before leaving and right: arriving home with his purchase

Today was the big day - he and his dad went to the store with money in hand and purchased the 3DS XL - and as a bonus, the one they purchased came with a pre-loaded game as well!

I am so proud of him -over the last few months there have been times where he wanted to spend his money on other things, but we would just remind him that if he wanted the DS he needed $xx more before he could purchase it.

He had periods of wanting Santa to bring it to him instead, and we mentioned that Santa doesn't bring gifts if he knows you are saving your own money for it.  Luckily, he had the money this week and didn't need to be disappointed Christmas morning when he found out Santa hadn't brought it for him.