We’ve seen a lot of change in the past two years since COVID turned our lives upside down. I don’t know about you, but the drastic rise in prices and living expenses in recent months was not at all what I expected to have happen during the pandemic.
According to the Washington Post, “Prices defied many economists’ expectations in 2021 by rising at the fastest pace in nearly 40 years. Everything from rent to the price of used cars to groceries climbed higher as the nation’s economy has recovered from the pandemic.”
We were surprised to open our December 2021 Alliant Energy bill and find that it had doubled in cost from our December 2020 bill, even though we used the exact same amount of gas and electric. This fact alone shows just how drastic prices have risen in the past year.
Economists don’t know how long this could last. They do predict a rosy future of things turning around by the end of the year, but we should take the time we have now to evaluate this current situation and learn some lessons from it.
I’m sure we’ve all heard stories from family members who lived through the Great Depression of how rough things were. The stories I really appreciate and love are the ones of how they made the most of it and found ways to be resourceful.
So, how do we learn from our times? More importantly, how do we teach our children the value of a dollar and how to be thrifty and wise during this perpetually difficult era?
What are we doing to teach those we love to be resourceful? I have the opportunity to serve the children at our church on Sundays and at mid-week activities. At a recent one, Jenn Campbell prepared a wonderful lesson on using money wisely. She purchased some basic food supplies for meals for one day and then had the children guess the prices for each item.
The children’s guesses ranged from 88 cents to $60 for items such as a box of cereal or a loaf of bread. One child, Matthew Winkler, invariably guessed within 50 cents the correct price for each item. We were so shocked that he would do so well with his guesses and asked him his secret. He smiled and replied, “I go shopping with my parents!”
This simple act of Isaac and Joelynn Winkler to take their sons grocery shopping and involve them in the process has made them aware of what food costs. They’ve also learned the skill of looking for the best value for their money.
At the end of the game, Jenn told the children that the grand total of all the food she had brought was $32. She also pointed out that our group that night, consisting of 10 people, could be fed for a day on that amount, but we wouldn’t be able to go to a restaurant and get a meal for all of us for $32.
The best lesson of all was taught when Jenn got out a Lego set that really caught the children’s attention. She acknowledged that Legos are really fun and special sets like these are exciting to do. However, this set also cost $32. The children came to realize that during this time of economic uncertainty, we all have to make choices. They had no idea that you could feed a family for a day for the same cost as a Lego set. I believe this lesson will stay with them for a long time. As they sat there staring at the Lego set and then at all the food on the table, the value of the dollar took on a new meaning for them.
We have all had life-changing experiences over the last two years. We can come out of this moment resilient and improved, if we will take to heart the lessons that are right in front of us. The pandemic isn’t a situation any of us would have wanted, but hopefully we can come away from it stronger, just as our parents or grandparents were for surviving the Great Depression.