A fool and money are soon parted

ARE you a saver or a spender? Well, I'd like to class myself under a third option. A money-hoarder.

In Year 1, my prize for winning a colouring competition was a Westpac Junior Account loaded with $20. That's where it all started.

Looking back, I think I may have been the most money-obsessed 5-year-old to walk this earth.

Once (or even twice) a month, I disciplined myself into depositing $2, $5, then later $25 into my very own account. By Year 6, I was the proud owner of a grand total of $276.50.

I hadn't spent a cent of it. This cycle of earning and hoarding all my money continued right up until last year, then everything changed.

What was I actually saving for, after all, I thought. Was $958 really going to buy me a house one day? (This had been my goal you see ... )

Or what if I was knocked down by a bus tomorrow? Would my beloved Westpac Junior Account help me then ... ?

So I splashed out. I bought myself an iPod Touch and a digital camera. In the SAME month.

I continued to spend, buying myself two dresses in Sydney and a black designer Guess bag (which, even though on sale, was still expensive ... )

The next month my Westpac account statement arrived. It read $218.67 in the "total" column.

Oh dear ... my brain went into a private panic, as my inner money-hoarder came back into play ...

I am not ashamed to call myself a hoarder. In my opinion, it is better than having a bank balance that is constantly stuck somewhere around $15 (like my sister's).

Through saving my money as I did for so many years, I was able to buy myself a few bigger items, which I am sure I will treasure for a long time.

My sister, on the other hand, admits that she couldn't even begin to imagine having all that money and not spending it on something ... her bedroom is full of small, miscellaneous items which have caught her eye at one point or another.

As they say, a fool and his/her money are soon parted. In comparison to my larger purchases, I don't think that she will treasure her abundance of silly purchases in the same way that I will mine. But that's two completely different opinions for you.

I guess that my point is that everybody is different. I hoard, she spends, and you might be the same or have a healthy balance of both.

We all like money (as far as I know) and, whichever category you place yourself in, we all have our different views on spending money.

From experience, I know both sides of the argument. But at the moment, I think I'll stick to saving.

Natalie Welch, Year 11, Epsom Girls Grammar