Story of Goldilocks and the 3 Imitation Bear Skin Rugs

A FamilyMint Fairytail

Story of Goldilocks and the 3 Imitation Bear Skin Rugs*

Bearskin Rug

By Bob Masterson

Once upon a time there was a girl named Goldilocks in search of a new imitation bear skin rug for her room.  She had worked hard to save up $500 for this purchase.  The first rug Goldilocks looked at was by the famous designer, L’bear.  L’bear’s rugs were all the rage, but with a hefty price tag of $1,000, it was much more than Goldilocks had saved.  But it was so soft and luxurious!.  “Of course,” she thought, “I could just charge it.  Just think of what all my friends would say when they found out I had a genuine L’bear rug of my own.”

But not wanting to make a rash decision as she worked hard for her money, Goldilocks decided to look at a couple more rugs.  The next rug she looked at was made by Fuzzy Wuzzy in a country far, far away that was not known for making the best quality products.  This rug was only $200, far below her budget and thus very tempting to purchase.  The rug was not as soft as the L’bear rug and the back of the rug seemed much thinner as well.  “But the rug is only $200,” thought Goldilocks, “think of all the money I’m saving and what else I could purchase with the difference.”

Of course there was still one more rug to look at before Goldilocks made her decision.  This rug was made by Grizzly, a well known reputable rug manufacturer that had always been ranked high in quality.  The Grizzly rug felt soft and luxurious like the L’bear rug, seemed very well made and at $495 this rug was within her budget.

Now Goldilocks had to make a decision on which rug she was going to purchase.  Should she purchase the famous L’bear designer rug that was double what she wanted to spend, but would greatly improve her status among all her friends?  Reflecting on this Goldilocks thought to herself, “It’s not worth the extra debt I would be getting myself into for the brief thrill of showing off a L’bear designer rug.”  So she crossed that one off her list.

Next she reflected on the Fuzzy Wuzzy rug and all the money she could be saving.  She could even buy two rugs at that price.  The temptation to purchase a lesser quality rug for the savings was great.  But thinking back to her mother’s wisdom of “you get what you pay for,” Goldilocks thought better and did not purchase the Fuzzy Wuzzy rug.  Besides, Goldilocks said to herself, “Fuzzy Wuzzy was an imitation bear that tended to lose its hair and even with great care, she’d be forced to buy a new one in a year.”

So turning to the Grizzly rug, Goldilocks proclaimed “This imitation rug is just right!” and made the wise purchase taking into consideration quality, reputation and price and lived happily ever after.

The moral of the story is…money takes a lot of hard work to earn so we want to make that money work hard for us.  Making thoughtful decisions in purchasing the things we want or need will save us money and headaches down the road.  Buying something because it’s cheap will often make you weep, and to purchase to impress never works out for the best.  Most often paying a reasonable price for good quality will pay for itself in the long run.

*No real bears were harmed in the creation of this story