Budgeting

in Diverse populations, I a difficult task of shopping for three kids with only 50 dollars. I learned alot from this experience and wanted to share with yall!


My first multicultural project allowed me to experience what many American families have to do on a daily basis. Providing for a large family with a very tight budget can be extremely challenging and frustrating. With the help of this project, I’ve developed a better understanding and more admiration for the families that manage to provide for their children on such a tight budget.
I went to the Temple Goodwill on a Saturday morning. When I entered the parking lot, I was surprised to see so many cars there and the amount of families coming in and out of the store. Before going inside, I decided I would create a budget for all four children; $12.50 per child. I believed I could find two or three different outfits considering that Goodwill is known for their reasonable prices. Once inside I noticed a diverse crowd of people including both young and old who were in search of some good finds and bargains.
Once inside, I decided to buy each child at least one pair of jeans. Luckily, the jeans were pretty cheap. Once I finished that, I decided to buy the usual school attire such as T-shirt and shoes. A lot of the racks did not have prices on them, so I had to ask the sales associates but all of them were friendly and willing to help me. I noticed that boy’s clothing is cheaper than girl’s clothing. When I was shopping for Trey, I found some pretty decent items. When I began searching for clothes for my girls, Nicole, Aiden, and Shelby, I was focused on finding the cutest outfits. After looking at the prices, I realized that cute clothes were out of the question if I wanted to stay in budget. I then had to resort to the basic T-shirts and tops. I was only able to buy one child a pair because the shoes were more expensive than I thought. After about a hour of shopping, I managed to get each child at least two shirts and a pair of jeans. I also managed to stay in budget all the clothing came up to $45.86. I tried to make my money stretch so I bought two pairs of socks for the oldest child. My grand total came up to $48.85; I felt disappointed that I was unable to buy more with $50.00. I assume that many mothers and fathers feel this way too when they are shopping with little money.
Though this was only a project, I’ve know that this is reality for many families and the possible students I will encounter in my career as a teacher. I will not express my sympathy for these students, but rather my empathy and understanding of their situation. I can only hope that I can provide a positive learning environment that enables them to gain confidence in themselves and not let their living predicaments hinder their learning capabilities.