Now Why Didn't I Think of That?

Last night I decided to point up the darlings' excessive waste & neglect of personal items in a way that would hit home.

I listed off all the hits my wallet had taken recently--repairing a dryer door because Eric sat on it, buying Mia new shoes because she took scissors to the old ones, new pants for Mercie when she proudly showed me how big of a hole she could make in them with her fingers, a new lunch bag to replace a lost one, an excessive amount of school lunches for Grace because she keeps "forgetting" her home-packed lunch...

Then I told the kiddos that it looked like we probably wouldn't have enough money for Christmas presents this year.

Stunned silence.

However, my efforts to turn this into a discussion about how we could better practice frugality were derailed when Grace took the floor.

"You should have said yes to that man, Mom."

???

"What man?"

"The man when you went to get your contacts. You should have told him yes."

" Not sure what you mean, Gracie."

"Well, he asked you if you wanted cash back. You should have said yes. Then we'd be rich."