Re: Raising A Frugal Child

09/27/09 - posted by Frank Dunnigan

Oh, there's a memory from the past. It was definitely Bank of America that scored many of its first-time customers in 1st Grade at St. Cecilia's. Sister dutifully explained the good things about saving money--even just a nickel or dime a week. If I had saved nothing, Mom would kick in a quarter, but if I was putting in something, then it would usually get matched with 2 quarters. One-half of Christmas and birthday money was expected to be deposited, with no arguments.

The little blue bank book went into an envelope that had a looped string enclosure (just like a full-size manila envelope). Our deposits were picked up one day and the books returned the next. There was even a double-sided sign that could be hung in the front of the room reading "Tomorrow is Bank Day" & "Today is Bank Day". I don't think that the program lasted for the full 8 years that I was there, but in each succeeding grade, the teacher would draw on those little blue books as concrete examples of why arithmetic was so important in our lives--adding to the balance, later calculating interest rate percentages, etc.

I kept that savings account all through grammar and high school, and it paid for my first VW in 1971--13 years after I started the account by saving 25 cents.