Watch Out Beantown, Here Comes Gareth!

Gareth will leave for Boston on Saturday morning. We spent a great deal of last evening in preparation mode. You know: determining which clothes he'll take for his 3 day trip, making sure they're all dry cleaned ('cause teenaged boys don't care about things like that, I've found). After I picked him up from school, we headed to get the max for the minimum (TJ Maxx) to shop for shirts. We definitely found a couple we liked but were thrilled to find a pair of Ralph Lauren Polo chinos for $10. As best we could tell, the pants had original been $60; so we couldn't snatch them up quickly enough. Ka-ching (insert Gareth and me giving a high five)! Now that's a deal! Much like his stepmother, Gareth loves a bargain. We've long since been having conversations about fiscal responsibility, creditworthiness and, yes, even bargain-hunting. Thank God chats have rubbed off on him; this kid is a tightwad and admittedly so!

As he grows older, I am beginning to realize that he really has been listening to our money lectures. *swoons* We are hopeful that he doesn't make some of the same mistakes as we did in college.

When he goes to visit Harvard this weekend, he will have an allowance. Ever the miser, he will likely come back with about the same amount of money he left home with. He'd rather hang on to it and buy a video game later. Though he's wrapping up his junior year and this is a long ways off (it'd better be), all I can think is: his poor wife....this kid's sort of a cheapskate...ha!

Have you had money or budget conversations with YOUR kids? What do you think is the right age to begin talking about money?