A discount now or a voucher later: compare what your child can actually use
By Erik Nilsen · Kroni3 min read
A discount reducing today's payment and a voucher for a later purchase are different things. A voucher may have value, but it is not necessarily money your child can spend freely. Draw two purchases on paper and see what must happen before the benefit becomes real.
Compare today's payment first
In a hypothetical example, your child wants an item costing 100 units at both shops. Shop A takes 15 units off now. Shop B charges full price but offers a voucher worth 25 units for a later purchase of at least 100 units. The offers and arbitrary prices are invented; check the actual conditions of any real voucher.
At A, your child pays 100 − 15 = 85 units. At B, they pay 100 units today. The voucher does not return 25 units in change and cannot pay for anything at A. With only 90 units available, only A fits today's budget.
If your child already has a concrete later purchase costing 100 units planned at B, compare both purchases. At B the total is 100 + (100 − 25) = 175 units. If the later purchase also costs 100 at A with no further discount, the total is 85 + 100 = 185 units. B could then reduce the combined payment by 10 units.
Do not invent a purchase to use a voucher
The second comparison only applies when both purchases were already planned. If your child would not otherwise shop again, using the voucher costs another 75 units in this example. They receive another item; they have not reduced the first payment to 75.
A realistic snag is your child wanting to record the voucher as another 25 units of freely available money. Instead, note the shop, conditions and intended purchase separately. A possible discount is neither money a parent owes nor a gift already received.
If the voucher expires, covers different products, or requires something your family does not want, leave the imagined saving out of the calculation. You do not need to predict future prices to show the distinction. Use concrete conditions and what the family knows.
Ask your child: “Would you still want purchase number two without the voucher?” Their answer decides whether you should calculate one purchase or two.
Carry the calculation into your family agreement
Kroni can keep track of your child's virtual balance. The app does not transfer money, so any actual purchase is paid for outside it. Agree on what you will record, then check the amount with your child afterwards. Do not deduct a possible cost as though the purchase had already happened. Read about allowance in Kroni.
