Teaching My Girls the Value of Money

A while ago I had an Open House for my Thirty-One business at my home.  I do these Open Houses about once a month and I get a nice stream of my regular customers coming by to check out my new stock, new catalogs and fabric swatches.  This particular Open House was on a "snow day" so nobody came over.  I've learned to never get discouraged when I have a slow Open House, because that is my intense work time and I'm busy relationship building on the phone and on Facebook, putting my labels on all of my marketing materials and updating my Hostess and Opportunity Packets.

My girls got quite discouraged that nobody came to my Open House.  They were so sweet and  very concern that we didn't make any money that night.  This really affected them and I'm always up for teaching them a life skill when they need it, which is always.  Being a happily divorced mom, I want them to appreciate whatever we have, whatever we get and whenever we get it.  

The saying that we use around here is
"You get what you get, and you don't get upset!"  

I explained to my girls that my business is doing great and one slow Open House isn't going to destroy us.  Plus it was snowing out so I understood why nobody came over, I wouldn't have left the house that night either!  Then I explained to them that I now have a team of 8 people who are working very hard and I spend a lot of time working with them, helping them and being their personal cheerleader.  

This wasn't enough for them, they didn't quite understand.

So I decided that my girls would be my customers on that snowy, stormy night.  They wanted to buy something to help me with my business.  All they could afford were 2 key chains - after all, they are 9 and 6.5 - they aren't rolling in a lot of cash.  So I treated them like customers, even calling them Miss Katzevman and Miss Katzevman - they loved it!  They shopped for a while and then decided to purchase the key chains (since I had to break out of character to tell them that they really couldn't afford anything else).  Then they had to come up with the money.  They scoured every one of their purses and wallets for the money and managed to come up with it - which was a feat of it's own!  We are definitely a purse and wallet-loving family! 

In the end, when they managed to find the money, I surprised them by charging them tax which set them on another search to look for more coins.  They should learn about tax now so they are not discouraged later on in life. I wrote them out receipts, stapled my business card to the receipts and bagged their purchases.  They were thrilled and enchanted!  My boyfriend and I were cracking up about the entire process that took them about an hour and produced a total sale of $2.20.  

It was my most favorite Open House ever.

The next day my youngest daughter lost a tooth.  She was so happy when she got a zip-lock baggie under her pillow with a total of $2.20 from the tooth fairy, who we call "The Rock in Blue Fairy Wings and a Tutu".

On this day, my girls learned the value of money.  Well at least they started the process of learning it.  I'm thankful for my Thirty-One business which not only helps me pay my bills, meet amazing women, make tons of new friends and gives me tons of adorable products to use and display, it also shows my girls that their mom isn't a victim of divorce, she's their hero, teacher and provider who takes amazing care of them.