Oh, What to Do!

Penny sits on her front porch with her hand in her pockets. She is deep in thought and does not see Mr. Lopez walking Brandy past her house. Mr. Lopez calls to Penny, “A penny for your thoughts.”

When Penny does not answer because she is so deep in thought, he calls her again. “Penny, Penny, how are you doing today’?” When Penny looks up, she smiles at Mr. Lopez and says, “I have to make a decision, Mr. Lopez. Making choices can be so hard.”

“What are you trying to decide?” asks Mr. Lopez. “Can I help you?” She jumps down from the porch and walks toward Mr. Lopez and Brandy. Brandy wags her tail when she sees Penny, then all three walk down the street together. Brandy zigs and zags back and forth in front with Mr. Lopez and Penny side by side behind her. “What kind of decision are you trying to make Penny?” Mr. Lopez asks again.

Penny smiles and says, “When I earned money for walking Brandy, I was so happy. Now I have money, and that means I have to decide what to do with it. It is like the money is burning a hole in my pocket. I want to use it right now, but I can’t decide! I want a new bike. I want a new vest to wear with my five-pocket jeans. I want so many things. I just don’t know what to do!”

“Penny, you do have a problem to solve,” replied Mr. Lopez. “You have a choice to make. You have money, but you don’t have enough money to buy all the things that you told me you want. You have so many alternatives. When you have alternatives, you must make a decision about how to spend your money and what you must give up when you make a choice.”

“Oh! What am I going to do?” exclaims Penny.

“That is a good question, Penny. I’ll try to help you. Let’s say one of your friends invites you to go swimming tomorrow and another friend invites you to go to the movies at the same time. Your friend would be buying a service by taking you swimming or to the movies. You would then have a choice to make — either go swimming or to the movies. When you choose one, you choose to give up the other, and that’s the hard part of making choices. You can’t do both at the same time, so you would need to decide. Your alternatives would be to go swimming or to go to the movies.”

“That makes sense,” says Penny, “but what does that have to do with money?”

“Well, Penny, you just mentioned two possible ways to spend your money. You told me you want a new bike or a fancy vest. When people make money decisions, he/she think about all the different ways to use the money he/she have.

“Now I understand,” says Penny. “I have money, but I don’t have enough to buy both things I want. I have to decide which I want the most. Do I want a bike or a vest? I have to choose and an important part of choosing what I want is choosing what I must give up to get it.”

By this time Brandy has begun to slow down. She is not walking as fast. The three good friends have been walking a long time.

Mr. Lopez says, “Penny, you have more to think about. The money in your pocket is enough to buy a vest, but do you have enough to buy the new bike? When people make decisions, he/she need to decide whether he/she will spend the money now or save the money to buy something later. Do you know what those two words mean — spend or save?”

Penny replies, “When I spend money, I buy things now that I want, or I spend the money now for something I want to do. I remember spending money to buy a dress for my doll, and I remember spending money to go skating.”

“That’s right, Penny. You spend money for an object, the dress, which is a good, and you spent money for an activity, skating, which is a service. So you understand the word ‘spend.’ Do you know what ‘save’ means?”

“Well, if spend means to use the money now, maybe save means to wait until later to use the money,” answers Penny.

“Right again, Penny. Save means to set aside money for future use, to use it later. You have already started to make money decisions. You have thought about the different uses for your money. Now you have to decide whether to spend the money to buy a vest, or to save the money for something more expensive later, like the bicycle. Good luck with your money choices.”

“Thank you Mr. Lopez for talking to me about making money decisions. I do have lots to think about. Spend now for a vest, or save for a bike later.”