A dollar earned is far better than a dollar received.

You have two items in front of you. The first is a very expensive watch that you received as a gift from your boss. The second is a $45 watch that was the first thing you bought for yourself after saving up your hard earned dollars. Which is more valuable to you? In my opinion it is the latter. While the expensive watch was nice, and I wouldn’t mind having it, the second watch has my sweat equity in it and I worked hard for it. Unless there is a huge sentimental reason behind the watch, ie a present from a deceased relative, I would hope that I would always remember the struggle to get the second watch.

I think understanding the value of a hard earned dollar is crucial and must be taught from a young age. In our family we have chosen to follow Heavenly Father’s model when our kids ask for something large, and sometime small. We tell them to figure out how much it will cost and that if they work hard and save up their money that we will pay for half of the item.  We have found that they take much better care of the item if they truly had to work hard to get it.