Finally: Ridin’ in Style!

This month’s  busy one, I’ll tell ya that. Last weekend I went home, this weekend I’m home, and the days in between have been pretty busy, too – chock full of college tours. At work, we’ve been giving 8th graders tours of different campuses. That’s right – it’s not too early to check out a college campus in 8th grade.

So I’m at home this weekend because it’s my mom’s birthday. And I was home last weekend because it was mother’s day – seriously, my mom has a pretty good month of May. Also going on this weekend is Prom for my two brothers who are still in high school, and probably a ton of other high schoolers around the state. But most exciting of all is that today I drove home in my brand new car!!! Well, it is used, but it’s new to me. Today I took what I feel is a very grown-up step and I put down a down-payment and bought a vehicle. I’ve grown out of my Neon-driving days – and I put my time in too, I drove it for 7 years! If you ask me, and I’m feeling much more professional in my new ride.

So coming home in my new car sorta over-shadowed the fact that I need to get Mom a birthday present, but I think I’ll make it happen. Now, believe you me, I wouldn’t be driving a new car if I hadn’t made a plan on how I was going to be able to afford it. Just like to you have to make a plan for the classes you want to take and the type of student you want to be in order to be successful after high school, you also have to make a decision on what type of money saver or spender you want to be.

Are you the type who spends any money you get right when you get it? Or do you save some of it? Or all of it? Have you ever really thought about having a plan with your money?

Well, guess what?! Just like it’s not too early to think about college planning, it’s not too early to think about your money in middle school or high school, either! A while ago some 6th graders and I had a pretty good chat about money, and making a plan for spending and saving. Even if you’re planning on buying a car in the near future, it’s still important to use a plan for your money – there must be something you’d really love to buy at some point!

With these particular 6th graders, we talked about how much it would cost to pay for college. Do you ever buy candy bars? Or pop? Or maybe fast food if your school or house is close to a restaurant? Or maybe some really cool pair of shoes for school? Or maybe your mom or dad buys you new shoes? Do you buy a snack after your school lunch with your own money?

What if instead of buying these things, you just saved it?

Well, let me put it this way: College costs a lot. In fact, it costs about 480 pair of really cool shoes (assuming the shoes are priced around $50).

So how can saving now actually help?

Well, say you buy a candy bar and a pop every week for a whole school year. Not bad, right? As in, you’re not being totally unhealthy, having a candy bar and a pop just once a week. So that costs about $2/week. Well, over a school year, that’s $72.

Sure, that can’t buy you tuition for college, but it could definitely buy you a new pair of shoes for your first day of college. Or it could buy you your first text book for college – yep, in college you have to buy your own books! What if you saved that much – $72 – each year until you graduate? If you’re going into 8th grade now, that’d be $360, which would probably cover all your books for the semester with some moola left over.

How about this one: I’m not sure how many Big Mac fans there are reading this, but just as an example, say you bought a Big Mac meal once a week. That’s about $6. Maybe you can think of other stuff that costs you about $6 bucks a week. Well, if you didn’t buy that Big Mac meal each week for a school year, that’d save you $216. And again, for example, if you’re going into the 8th grade right now and you saved that money each week, you’d have $1080. Now that would definitely carry some weight when you get to college. You could use to buy a laptop, a book bag, new clothes for school, books…you get the picture.

Need I go on? Point is: If you want to obtain something – for me, a new car – you have to plan for it. New cars don’t just fall out the sky ’cause you want one. Or a college education. You gotta plan and prepare.

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