I spent Tuesday afternoon calling pig breeders in the surrounding counties. I finally located two wiener pigs for my girls to enter in our local fair at the end of summer. Since the kids that auction off their animals at the fair get inflated prices at the auction, the breeders also inflate their selling prices. What would normally be a $60 or $65 wiener pig goes for $225- $300 if it’s for the fair. In most cases, these “Project Pigs” are the same pigs that are for the freezer but since the pig is for the fair it’s an additional $165+ over the market price. Is it fair to price gouge the kids? I’m not really sure, I guess everyone is just looking out for themselves and the almighty dollar.

After the auction, when my girls get their checks, I make them reimburse me the price of the hog and the cost of the feed. I’m trying to teach them life lessons and responsibility. This year I’ve decided that the girls should pay for the pigs themselves and then reimburse me the cost of the feed when they sell their hogs.

Here’s where I could learn a thing or two financially from my 10 year old. I told the girls we’d be going to the bank on Friday to get the cash from their savings accounts so THEY could pay for their pigs on Sunday. I’m thinking they could use experience handling a large sum of money and seeing just what $225 dollars looks like and how it feels to have to give up their own money to pay for a pig.

My 12 year old was cool with taking money out of her savings account, no problem at all. My 10 year old informed me that she wouldn’t be needing to withdraw any money from the bank because she’d been saving money and had the cash! I was shocked! Yesterday I had only $36 dollars in cash yet my 10 year old had over $225! She recycles bottles and cans every chance she gets. We also pay her a small amount for good grades. She saves up coins and when she gets a full jar, she takes it to the grocery store and turns it in to dollar bills. She’s a penny pincher and always has been. This just goes to show you and especially me, that a nickel here and a quarter there all add up. I wish I could be more like her. I have no idea how she got so smart about money at such a young age. She’s my hero!