I am suddenly reminded of my school allowance. When I was in high school, it depended on whether I had a packed lunch or not. When I had one, I was given just enough for recess. When I didn’t have packed lunch with me, I was given more so I could buy a rice with a single viand.

I came from a large family. I had five siblings to share with the school allowance budget when we were still in school. You can just imagine how much my parents had to allot for school allowance, and even for packed lunches for each one of us. And I do believe it’s the reason why the pocket money given to me was always not enough. I always wanted to have more because I wanted to buy more food and drinks. It’s not that I was left hungry by my parents. It’s just that there were more tasty treats for a student with a bigger pocket money.

But I learned so much from that meager school allowance I had. I learned to budget! I learned to control my cravings. I learned to make do with what I had. And I believe that it made me a stronger individual with a good grasp of control over herself.