Chapter 4: Where can I find some money?

Penny, Buck and Bill, the FrontenacKids Club, were on their way to school one day. Bill, as usual, was taking his time. Penny looked back and saw that Bill was falling far behind.

"Hurry up Bill," said Penny. "We're going to be late for school."

Bill stopped along the sidewalk. He got down on his knees and looked under a rock. He shook his head and sighed. Then he put down the rock.

"Hurry up Bill!" said Buck.

Bill got up and started jogging to catch up with Penny and Buck. He stopped again to peer inside a mailbox. He put his head as far into the mail box as it could go. Then he shook his head and sighed even louder.

"Come on Bill!" said Penny impatiently.

Bill started running slowly again. But it wasn't long before he stopped for a third time to crawl under a bush. He rustled around inside the bush for a minute or two and then he sighed loudly again. As he backed out of the bush, he bumped into Buck, who had walked back to get his dallying friend.

"What are you doing?" asked Buck.

"Looking," said Bill.

"Looking for what?"

"Money," said Bill. "It doesn't grow on trees you know." He sighed and shook his head.

"I know," said Buck. "But it doesn't grow on bushes, in mailboxes or under rocks either." Both boys began running to catch up with Penny who was now far ahead of them.

"Well then," said Bill, as they began to huff and puff their way up the hill to school, "Where does it grow?"

"Money doesn't grow like plants and trees grow," explained Buck. "You have to make your own money."

"Oh. I get it." said Bill. He nodded his head as they walked into school.

Later that day. Penny and Bill were in the cafeteria at lunch and started their daily search for Bill. They found him hard at work at a table. He had a pad of paper, a box of crayons, a pair of scissors and a glue stick. He was leaning down on the table and was cutting, coloring, pasting and gluing. He had already had several of his creations laid out on the table. They looked like coins and bills.

"What are you doing?" asked Penny.

"I'm making some money." said Bill as he continued to color in one of his bills. He stopped for a moment and handed Penny one of his bills. "Here. Have twenty dollars. Don't spend it all in one place."

"Thanks Bill," she said and laughed. "It looks like very nice money."

Penny and Buck sat down next to Bill and ate their lunch. Buck even helped Bill color in some of his coins.

After school that day, Penny, Buck and Bill were walking home. As usual, Bill was lagging behind. He had on his backpack and was playing with the money he had made at lunch. He was staring up into the sky and making counting gestures with his fingers.

When they were half way home, Penny looked behind them and Bill was nowhere to be found. She and Buck ran back and began looking for their friend.

They found him inside Mr. McGreggor's Grocery Store.

"Hi guys." said Bill. He had four candy bars in his hand. Bill walked up to the counter and handed Mr. McGreggor the candy bars and some of the money he had made.

Mr. McGreggor looked at the money and laughed. "That will be two dollars please," he said.

Bill shrugged and reached into his pocket. He found two more bills of the money he had made. They were still sticky from the glue. He pulled them apart and put them up on the counter.

"I'm sorry children," said Mr. McGreggor. "I need two real dollar bills."

"These are real," said Bill. "I made them myself." He smiled proudly and showed Mr. McGreggor his money. Bill had drawn pictures of George Washington and even glued them neatly to both sides of the money.

"This is very nice money, Billy," said Mr. McGreggor. "But it's only play money." He pulled out a dollar bill from the cash register. "This is a real dollar bill. You can't buy real things with your play money. You'll have to go get some real money if you want to buy some candy."

"But I've looked all over for some real money," said Bill "I looked under rocks, in mailboxes and in bushes. My dad says money doesn't grow on trees so I didn't look there. And then Buck said that I have to make my own money. So I made some money. I made it all by myself. Now you tell me that I can't use the money I made to buy something."

"That's right." said Mr. McGreggor. "But when your friend Buck told you that you have to make your own money, what he really meant is that you have to earn your own money."

"Earn money?" asked Bill.

"Yes," said Mr. McGreggor. "There are lots of ways you can earn money."

"I earn money by helping my mom put away the dishes," said Buck.

"I earned money one time by walking Mrs. Peterson's dog," said Penny.

"There are many ways you can make your own money, Billy," said Mr. McGreggor, "You can rake the leaves, clean your room, start a lemonade stand..."

"Ahhhhh!" said Bill, as if a light bulb lit up inside his head. "There are lots of ways I can make my own money!"

And so Bill, Buck and Penny said good-bye to Mr. McGreggor and resumed their walk home. They each decided to make a list of ways that they can earn their own money.

Can you help Penny, Buck and Bill with their list?

See if you can make a list of ten things you can do to make your own money.

Ways to Make Your Own Money

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