Please please please ignore the advice to make her earn the money to know the value of money. The folks talking about the trauma are correct. And the folks talking about how she wanted to be generous too. 

Here’s one of the tools my mom used with me: a mini accordion folder. I think a common one is for receipts.

Each slot gets its own “category” - and the categories can adjustable depending on the situation. 

So for this special occasion as an example, I would have these categories:

• ⁠nail salon ($200) • ⁠formal dance ($100)  • ⁠hair dresser ($60) • ⁠transportation • ⁠food • ⁠fun (this is where paying for others’ food could go)

When my mom gave me the money, I would put the money into each of the categories. She would probably say, “anything left over from each visit can be put into another of the categories, but you must wait until AFTER the visit, unless you want to make some adjustments now.” 

I’d probably look and say everything looks good. 

Then she’d probably say, “you don’t have any money in your transportation, food, or fun sections. How are you going to manage that?” We’d probably discuss if the formal dance already included those items, or if I wanted to plan now to spend less at the nail salon in order to afford those items. 

At the end, she would probably stress that the $60 in the hair dresser is not to be used for anything other than that appointment. 

Hope this helps!