The three jars

Arun gets ₹100 pocket money every Sunday. By Wednesday it is always gone: a samosa here, a packet of stickers there. He wants a cricket bat that costs ₹800, and it feels impossible. His thatha, his grandfather, gives him three empty jam jars and a marker pen.

Spend, save, share

• Spend jar: money for small things this week, like a snack after school.
• Save jar: money for a big thing later, like the cricket bat or a cycle.
• Share jar: money to give or help with, like a gift for a cousin or a donation at Pongal time.

Every Sunday Arun puts ₹50 in spend, ₹40 in save and ₹10 in share. The save jar is the one he is not allowed to open until it reaches the goal. He writes CRICKET BAT ₹800 on the lid so he remembers why.

How long will it take?

Twenty weeks is about five months. That sounds long. But when Arun gets ₹500 at Deepavali from his aunts and uncles, he puts ₹300 of it in the save jar and the bat is only seven weeks away.

The want that disappeared

In week three, Arun badly wanted a ₹150 toy car he saw outside the temple. He wrote it on a list on the fridge instead of buying it. In week six he looked at the list and laughed. He did not want the toy car any more. Waiting had made the want disappear, and the ₹150 stayed in the jar.