Back home, Rares excitedly told his two cousins, Ana and Daniel, about the money tree in George's version.

Rareș, Ana and Daniel, live in the town 30 km from this magical village where it seems many forgotten stories hide the beauty of money-related parables and advice, and great ideas about the prosperity needed in successful communities. The three of them, together, spend just about every holiday here at their grandparents' house with the friends they've made in the village and love.

Inspired by what he's heard from Rares, Daniel suggests that his two cousins start a blog of local financial stories.

Daniel: Imagine how we would feel learning about the money mysteries in our community. I'm convinced that many adventures with money are still untold to young people. Just the other day I overheard Grandpa whispering to his cousin Sandu that there is a cultural treasure hidden in the valley! If we find it, I believe we can help our friends become more financially educated, and thus learn the truth about the money trail in our village.

Ana: A hidden cultural treasure? That sounds exciting! But how can we find it? We don't have enough knowledge, not enough connections to find clues from local sources, and not enough money to purchase the digital services to create the blog.

Daniel: Well, I think we can implement the project without too much effort. We use our ambition, intelligence and ingenuity. We will each contribute with what we know, what we can do, using the talents we have.

Rareș: You're right! We can start by researching and gathering information from books, online resources, and even talking to people in the neighbourhood who could offer advice and provide pointers. Plus, we can draw George and Ada into our adventure. George reads a lot and is passionate about writing, and Ada has wandered far and wide through these valleys and hills out of her desire to connect with nature, drawing and painting inspired by the surrounding flora and fauna. Moreover, Ada loves to navigate the virtual world because she is drawn to the digital realm and communicates easily on social media channels.

Ana: I have an idea! Because we don't have the money to buy books and do research by going to the National Library, we can wander around the area to talk to older people and in addition, we can visit libraries, museums, theatres and houses of culture in neighbouring villages and communes.

Daniel: Very good ideas! Once, my grandmother told me that in the village on the hill there lives an old antique dealer who has an impressive collection of books, manuscripts, old newspapers, coins, as well as an exhibition of all kinds of paintings, antique and contemporary objects bequeathed here or brought to this area.

With this very little plan in their minds, the three cousins plan to meet Ada and George soon. Excited at the opportunity to make new friends, they all looked forward to the upcoming meeting.

As soon as they meet, after they've shared their news, George confides in them... We determine together what information we need, create a list of resources, and then tell each other what we're each best at. If necessary, we might buy compendiums, subscribe to different databases or explore different specialist websites.

Daniel: Yes, that's why I imagine it would be appropriate for each of us to decide how much money we could contribute to the project.

Ana: Super! But I have no idea how much money I could have. It's unlikely I'll be able to save in the next period and besides, I don't even know how I can do that.

George: Nothing simpler! We each draw up our own list of the most recent income earned and expenses incurred, in order to analyse as concretely as possible how we have used our money for personal gain over the last 6 months.

Rareș: What good does a list like this do?

Ada: I think we can calculate what our average monthly earned income is and which expenditure categories we spent the most money on, in order to plan how to spend it in the future.

George: Exactly! That way we can plan how much income we'll have over the period of our project, how much we'll save for ourselves each month, and also how much we could each spend on our project each month.

Ada: I thought you told me it was recommended that we save 10% monthly.

Daniel: Good! But 10% seems like a small percentage of my 60 lei a week pocket money. That's 6 lei I should allocate for myself, but also for the blog. Right?

George: Yep, something like that. It may seem that 6 lei a month for our project is a derisory amount. But as Ada mentioned, let's not forget that we have to put 10% in our own savings for emergencies or for our own wishes.

Daniel: Here's what I propose to you! For the duration of the project, we could contribute 20 lei each per month. That way we would have 100 lei to carry out our documentation work and to finance our blog every month.

Ana: It seems like a simple calculation. But I think it may exceed our personal possibilities. I would like to start as George suggests, but additionally look for alternative sources. Small donations from parents, relatives and friends are welcome. In addition, we could save money by using some personal resources for the various activities that will be important to carry out. For example, it may be necessary to borrow a carriage to travel long distances.

Rareș: Yes, just don't forget that for the horse we will need to have fodder and water. :) Bicycles and scooters might be less expensive, I think.

Ada: Hunky-dory... but we clearly still need some money, clearly. Look, we'll need to buy the domain for the blog, a design theme, an SSL certificate, a cloud space etc.

George: There will definitely be some expenses! Saving money doesn't just mean putting money aside, it also means being mindful of our resources and finding creative ways to save money. Let's get to work finding solutions!

Rareș: Since it's a forested region, zip lines could be a fun and very fast way to get from one place to another. Ha ha ha!

Ada: As we learn more information from the field, we'll be able to document our findings. That way, we'll be able to outline our budget for our investigation, step by step. Basically, we'd start with a budget of 100 lei, made up of an average of 20 lei from each, as Daniel suggested. Then we will carefully monitor our spending to make sure we stay within our planned budget. We might even try to put money aside month by month, for unexpected expenses, right from the blog budget. We'll see!

DIARY PAGE | Cash Flow In and Out

Draw up a list of your cash receipts, which essentially includes any money you receive.

Don't forget to list only disposable income, as one of the main purposes of the cash flow exercise is to give you a clear picture of where you're getting your money and how you're spending it.

Once you have detailed all your sources of income, add them up to calculate your total income.

Then do a retrospective calculation over the last 6 months to find out how much money and which spending category is draining your budget.

Based on this information, you can then adjust your spending in the future.

Look to see how you can set aside 10% of your monthly income. Dare to save even 20%. Do you think you'll succeed?

I think so, but it's up to you! Good luck!

Did you know that...

One of the most important steps financially smart people take is to pay themselves first. What this means? The first thing I recommend you do when you receive pocket money, scholarships or financial incentives is to pay yourself by putting some of the money aside before you buy or pay for anything you need or want badly. In other words, it's important to put a percentage of your income aside and only then pay for the rest!

There are small things we can do, that we can keep track of, to save our money. For example, when you want to buy a new phone or a new pair of trainers, look around, compare prices, wait for a discount or negotiate the cost. Every better price you get is an expense you've managed to save, and even if sometimes it doesn't seem like you've gained much, every saving you make counts. And that money can go towards other things you want, that you've saved for beforehand.

The best thing you can do once you discover that you've mismanaged your money is to talk to your parents, siblings or friends about what you've learned from the experience and what you could do differently next time. You may have spent a week's allowance or pocket money in just two days, bought a product that didn't seem so good after you bought it, or left yourself with enough money for the bus, but it's not the end of the world. You can adjust your financial situation, anytime, by doing this simple exercise at some point to track the last 6 months.