Money doesn't grow on trees, and neither do football girdles

Consider this a mom vent. Another mom vent. Football season is inching ever closer (yay) and with it, the plethora of fees and items to be gathered and purchased. Football season is, for us, almost as expensive as Christmas. Between registration fees, camp fees, necessary purchases for gear and travel wear, training sessions,gas and food and all sorts of miscellaneous expenses that come from four boys in the same sport, the total tally will creep up to near $1800.00. This isn't my vent. I expect and understand these expenses. These expenses are just part and parcel of having several children and wanting them to be able to participate in a sport our family loves. Our high school and our town's youth football organization are beyond helpful and patient with us and are very understanding when it takes a bit of extra time to get everything paid up. The expenses I'm not as okay with are the ones that come in the form of extra cash having to be forked out due to my own children being careless, entitled or just plain irresponsible with what they have. This is my vent.

The two high schoolers neglected to bother with cleaning out their athletic lockers at the end of the school year, both of them leaving perfectly good (and in one case, really awesome) cleats inside of said lockers. Both pair were bought brand new at the start of last season. Naturally, lockers have since been cleaned out. Neither son knows what became of their cleats and neither son seems particularly worried about finding out. In both cases, the cleats could have been passed down to a younger sibling resulting in my being able to save a tidy sum. My sons seem wholly unconcerned with this and didn't seem to heed my repeated requests to venture to the school's lost and found for a look around.

As though this were not enough, recently one son has brought to my attention that he can not find his football girdle. Apparently, his girdle has just vanished into thin, football air. I responded by suggesting numerous places around the house that he might consider looking. Odd places, like, you know, his dresser, his closet and under his bed. I mean, it has to be someplace. It didn't just grow little girdle legs and and run off. He spent a grand total of less than a half hour searching, declared it "gone" and then looked me right in the eye and said, unflinchingly, "Mom, let me hold thirty dollars for a new girdle."
Mom, let me hold thirty dollars for a new girdle!

I stared blankly for a minute and my mouth may have even flapped open. Why, no, son, you will not "hold" thirty dollars for a new girdle. Why? Because you already own a girdle, one that has already been paid for and one that is in perfectly good shape. I will absolutely not purchase a new one simply because you can't find yours and refuse to properly search for it. You know what "properly search" means. It means when you actually move things around in an effort to locate a lost item, rather than simply scan the room with your eyes. I will not just buy another because you are too lazy to bother with looking. You will not cause me to invest more money so that you can avoid investing your time. Football is already expensive in this family, so we all need to save where we can and be mindful of what money is going out. That same thirty bucks could be spent on next weeks training session. There isn't just a limitless supply of funds, easily available each time one of you dear children forgets, misplaces or neglects your gear and even if there were, I'd like to think I'd still want you to learn the same lesson. Money doesn't grow on trees. And neither do football girdles.