Campion, I like it alot.
May I heartily recommend Millical to go through all your toys and books and decide which ones you no longer need or play with and then ask your parents to help you sell it on Ebay.
Set a reasonable price, I like to start my auctions at .99 cents to encourage people to bid on my sales. I also get my boxes for free from the stores of life, to help keep shipping costs down.
You could also host a garage sale to bring in extra money, if you have enough stuff. Maybe get a couple friends together and mark your items clearly of whose is whose.
When one toy comes in, a few should be outgoing. It keeps Mommie happy.
You can also promise your beloved parents that instead of begging and whining for a Mcdonald’s happy meal ( admit it, you do this every time you see the Golden Arches.) you will happily accept $1 into your Doll fund and $1 into your bank fund in exchange for not eating one of these junk food and junk toys to go contraptions. The added benefit of this ( you can tell your parents) is not only less clutter in your room of crummy toys you don’t play with longer than a car drive, but less clutter in mom and dad’s cars as well.
You can also earn extra cash by cleaning the floor of the car and under the seat. Parents dislike doing this.
Maybe, you can sit down with your parents and explain to them the value of your education and how if you receive a financial incentive ( like a carrot before a horse. Something to encourage you to work harder at school.) you could get $10 for every A on your report card ( or other mutually agreeable amount.)
Ask yourself this, do you want this doll because it is something that would be fun to play with and share good times or because all of your friends have one? or is it because it is the most unobtainable item that your parents won’t buy for you and therefore more desireable.
Remember, if you get the doll, she needs clothes and stuff.
Another money saver is ask your parents that instead of ordering books from Scholastic through school, ask for $5 to go towards your doll fund and just borrow the book from your public library. That could save them $5-10 a month!
If you’re getting one of the American Girls, then maybe you’ve already learned a little bit about the time period she’s from. Both of your parents are good writers, and I bet you’re quite a voracious (look it up!) reader yourself. Have you thought about looking for an essay contest you could enter? Writing an essay about the time period your American Girl doll is from will be fun. You can daydream about the time period, and do some research, so that when you do get the doll, you’ll know so much more about what kind of things she would want to do with you. For instance, Felicity is from Williamsburg in 1774 – if Felicity is the doll you’d like, then you could do an essay about what a little girl’s life might be like in 1774. I bet you’ll find out (if you didn’t already know) that she has lots of hard chores to do, too! If you write a really good essay, you can enter a contest. Some contests have prizes that are as high as $100, which means you could earn all the money at once (and have a little left over for Christmas shopping). It’s going to be very hard to find a contest that pays this well, however, and just because you write a good essay doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll win. Ask around and people will tell you that getting paid for writing is very hard work! You might want to stick with chores that you know will get you the money.
Since Christmas is coming up, you could offer to wrap presents for people. This is hard, because you need to buy wrapping paper ahead of time – you will have to plan very carefully so that you can replace the money you spent on wrapping paper and also make a little profit. Another thing that will be hard is keeping everyone’s presents a secret. Mom and dad might be able to help you with the math, and if you have lots of wrapping paper left over, you might be able to sell it to mom and dad for a small profit.
If you sing well, there are some groups that go caroling in the malls during the Christmas season. They might be interested in having a few children sing with them, because children are cute, and that draws attention to their group. Don’t be embarrassed! This is a strong point for you. Of course, you need to be good at singing, and there might be lots of practices. One of my friends does this now and really enjoys it.
No matter what you do to earn the money, get out a calendar and write down how much you expect to have each week. Figure out when you will have enough money to get the doll, and set a goal to definitely have enough by then – this will help you keep you motivated to do the chores, even when you don’t really want to do them.
No daughter. I’m a mid-20s childless woman embittered and scarred for life because her parents refused to buy her an American Girl doll when she was 8 years old.
… naaah, I got into Nintendo when I was 9 and that was the end of it.
Here’s a quick chore suggestion that should help you to thoroughly bleed mom and dad. Um, perhaps that’s not in the spirit you’re shooting for, but I’ll carry on anyways.
Car washes. Car washes are tremendously good business. Parents are a bit too consumed in parent type things to get their butts into the driveway with a hose. Now, I know that when I was a kid I was perfectly happy to be in the driveway with a hose regardless of the situation, car or not. So taking the time to wash the car in the sun twern’t something I’d call work.
The best part is that it cost like $10 for mom and dad to pay the guy at the Turtle Wax to wash the car, so you should be able to get at least that. Frankly with that type of hands on expertise that you bring to the table, especially with those little kid fingers, you might be able to score upwards for $12 a car.
Plus, and dont let them know about this part, you could score about $1.50 in loose change that sneaks between the seats, where only your narrow fingers can reach.
It’s good work if you can get it. All it takes is a bucket, some soap, some towels, some Windex and a vacuum. A warm sunny day here in the waning months of Summer is a nice touch. There you have it.
Another good one is ironing. My mom hates ironing. I’m not too fond of it either, but I used to be able to get a few odd dollars here and there doing it. Though it all depends on if you’ve gotten tall enough to stand over the ironing board yet…and of course how mom and dad feel about that whole hot appliance thing. The way I see it, I’m 29 and burned my stomach a few days ago with the iron, so maybe it’s not so much an age thing afterall.
Look to see if there are any naughty pictures on your Dad’s computer. If there are any, and this is important, DON’T TELL MOM about them… yet. Tell Daddy what you found and that your silence can be bought for $100. Use $87 to buy the doll and the other $13 to buy something for Mommy. When she asks where the money came from, tell her off-shore investments.
Yes, definately see if MeachamCorp LLC has a matching funds program. For every dollar you put into the company savings plan, MeachamCorp LLC might match you up to 50%. If they have a benefit like this, get on board right now. That way, you only have to save $58. The company matches 50% of that ($29), and there’s your $87.
Be careful not to tap into the savings plan too early, though, like for a new CD or DVD or something. There is a substantial penalty for early withdrawal.
There are two methods that most little girls I know would use to get the doll.
Method one Look up at daddy and open your eyes as wide as possible. Get a little tear in one eye. (important) Tell him he will be the best daddy in the world if he will buy you the doll. You should practice this method in the mirror by yourself first.
Method two. Hold your breath till your parents buy you the doll. This one is tougher and if you have to pass out, (well fake passing out) remember to cross one foot behind the other and basically sit down really fast then lay out on your back. You should practice that one alone as well. Start with a pillow for your head till you get the falling down in a faint perfect.
See? See how much worse? Your daughter is asking for a doll that’s ONLY $87. $87 is a pittance compared to what it could be. In relief, you should buy her the doll.
That’s disgusting. Blackmailing your family is about the vilest thing possible.
She has access to the internet. She should scam strangers.
*
Greetings,
My name is MilliCal and I am an officer in the Nigerian Oil Ministry… *
Print out the following and read it in the loudest, shrillest voice possible. Repeat as necessary:
Daddy daddy daddy I want it I want it I want it buy it for me please please please pleeeeeeeeeeease I’ll be so good and do all my chores and just please daddy I neeeeed it and I’ll die if I don’t get one pretty pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeease daddy you’ve gotta get it for me and it’s only $87 and I know you have that so pretty pretty please can we get it huh huh huh can we daddy can we can we can we pleeeeease daddy I want it soooo bad you have no idea and it would make you the bestest daddy in the world if you buy it for me 'cause I want it sooooo badly and Becky already has one and so does Jamie and I’ll be like the only person in the world who doesn’t have so can we please get one huh huh huh so can we please please please please please daddy???
Millical, my 8 year old went right for her Dad’s jugular and asked for a $139 My Twinn Doll. Remind your parents you’re really saving them $52 by being more humble than other kids your age.
Chores aren’t a bad idea. If you hate reading as much as my daughter does, ask Mom and Dad if they’ll pay you a dollar a book for every one you read.
MilliCal? Hate Reading? After we tell her to turn out the lights at night, she pulls out a flashlight and keeps on reading. Her library is bigger than those of some adults I know.
At the risk of offering meddling and unsolicited advice, what about a financial incentive to get her interested in new endeavors that would make her a more well-rounded individual? Are there any physical activites, such as; karate classes, dance school, a swim team, gymnastics, or an organized sport that she’d be willing to try out for in exchange for the doll?
Blackmail is bad, but sometimes necessary. Don’t do it to mom and dad, nor should you scam strangers on the internet. You might however, consider asking Hal Briston to explain to you why the *Silence of the Lambs * (or in his case, goats) is an important piece of literature.
I’m guessing you could get a whole team of American Dolls in no time!
Hitchhike to Thailand and get a lucrative job doing some sewing for Nike. She is more than old enough to work there. My guess is that five months of 12 hour a day shifts - that ought to cover the price of the doll if she is frugal and doesn’t blow the money on food and a warm bed.
Or, there is the old Kool Aid Stand idea, but might be getting a bit nippy for that.
I don’t know if 8 is too young, but I wasn’t all that much older when I clipped out a coupon on the back of a comic book and sold personalized Christmas cards door to door to the neighbors and family and friends. I did that for about 6 years and got prizes like a tape recorder (big deal back in the day) and a little B&W television and other cool stuff for a kid my age! But you were also entitled to just keep part of the money instead of prizes and that would help in the purchase of a doll. (It did help that my godparents owned a car dealership and always bought about 30 boxes of cards right off the bat…but still…)
