Oh my gosh.

So, my son got this game for Christmas for the Xbox. He is a money saving maniac. He has to tithe 10% of his weekly allowance, save 50% putting it in the bank and can spend up to 40% (which he keeps in an envelope that says "spending money.") Anyway, the point is he gets $10/week allowance as he is 10 years old (starting at age 7 we give our kids $1/week for every year old they are until they are old enough to get a job). So, he wanted to buy some of these Skylander characters to use with the game (you put these plastic characters on a pad and you get to play them in game). Basically, it's like DLC but instead of downloading you buy the figures. Nice gimmick for the kids, I guess.

So, he goes to Target with his mom today looking for some he wants. He's got a list, a budget, etc. He's got a $20 Target gift card he got from his grandma for Christmas...but.... Can't find them anywhere. Sold out. So my wife buys the gift card from him for the $20 and uses it to buy stuff we needed, so he has the $20.

We look after supper and see almost everywhere is sold out of what he wants. Then, I check Amazon. They have some, but not many. There are some of these things being sold for...get this....$1000 through third party sellers. That is insane!!!! There are LOTS being sold for over $100. That is insane too!!!

Anyway, he picked out four he wanted for $90 total. It was pretty entertaining watching him weigh his options. There are about four pages of handwritten notes he made with prices, etc. before he decided. I think he was looking (I hope so) at that $90 and thinking that this was months of "spending" money mixed with whatever saved up "birthday" money he had and a $20 Target gift card my wife paid him for. Anyway, it was pretty entertaining to see.

Sure wish my 15 year old son had his sense for money I keep trying to teach him.
Hoping he gets through 10th grade without getting held back for failing history a second
year in a row. You know kids who love history on their own terms versus the school.
But, I am going to repo his computer and cell phone if he fails this semester. He
still has an F for it.

Yeah, but it's easier with a 10 year old than a teenager. My daughter, who turned 13 this year, lost her allowance for six weeks because I went to ask her where her bank deposit envelope and tithe envelope were and she had spent it at the mall. Oh, and she still has to make up the difference when she starts getting the allowance again. She was not happy.

lol four pages of hand-written notes

That child might be a future CPA.