Savings saved my life

I am a 15-year-old student and have always received pocket money from my parents. Sometimes I would get R5 a week, sometimes I would get R50 a day and sometimes nothing at all. I always used to get upset when my parents did not give me money because it made me feel poor in front of my friends. There is a feeding scheme at my school, which means the food is free. We get breakfast and lunch, but I don’t like to eat from there because then I look poor. So, I would use my pocket money to buy food and sweets for me and my friends. I would spend all my money on one day and when I wanted to buy other things like clothes or toiletries, my parents would say that is why they gave me pocket money.

I did not understand it because they must look after me as they are my parents. Going to the sessions now while learning about saving & budgeting, I learnt that if I save all my money for a certain amount of time, I can buy what I want to when I want to.

Now I already saved R868 and I am so happy because now I can go buy myself clothes for the holidays and also buy my little sister something for Christmas.

Thank you for making me realize that I can take care of myself.  

I always thought my parents owed me everything but now i can take care of myself and also buy food when my parents don’t have the money.