Thrifty Thursdays: Delayed Gratification

My son, Sam, recently had a birthday, and inevitably, he received two of the same gift. We went to our local toy store -- a friendly-neighborhood place that doesn’t require gift receipts -- and proceeded to look for something to exchange for one of the doubles.

Sam zeroed in on a long-coveted Lego Star Wars set. It was big. It was expensive. And it was about four times the price of the gift we’d come to exchange.

My son, I have to point out at this part of the story, is not a greedy child. Sure, he looks at games and toys in stores and flips through his Lego magazine and occasionally pleads for one item or another. But when I remind him of the many toys we already have or explain to him that the item he wants is not something I’d set aside money for that month, he’s usually understanding.

So when I told him that the set was too expensive, he was disappointed. An alert store clerk came to the rescue and presented a smaller set -- with Clone Troopers! My son was happy, and we went home and worked on the set together.

That’s usually how the story ends, with my son learning a lesson on how to walk away from things that aren’t in the budget. But this time, in the back of my mind, I was thinking about how I’d gotten my son a dictionary for his birthday (useful, but not very fun). And I tried to figure out how much I could set aside each month to get that big set, and how the money Grandma and Grandpa had given me to get him something for his birthday could help. Our family budget is stretched tight like everyone else’s right now, but the thought of my son opening that giant set in a few month’s time made me smile. The best part: My son will not have expected it and will be truly surprised. And I will have learned my own lesson on how to budget for something I really want -- seeing the look on my patient, understanding child’s face.

What have you splurged on lately? Was it worth it?

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