BlogHer Comments - How To Teach Your Kids To Budget

I've done well so far...

jensen7274 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:46:13 +0000

...these tips are certainly wonderful and I will apply some I haven't used as I continue teaching my children. My oldest daughter is wonderful about her money from what I have taught her so far. She budgets in what she can spend to what she wants to have by Christmas time (her own method thats been working). She also shops smart. When she wants to buy something she looks in all the fliers for the best deal. She saves her many more than spends it...so far so good.

Chris - Mind Vomit see what I am spewing now!

School lunches

Teresah — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 06:00:28 +0000

I had planned on being a frugal mom and only allowing my 8 year old son to have sack lunches. However, I realized quickly that in his eyes, I was always saying, "We can't afford anything, we're poor" which was not the truth. So I came up with a plan: I paid for exactly 20 lunches per semester. Then on a piece of paper I numbered 1-20. Everytime he had a school lunch, he would write down the date he had a lunch next to each number, like a countdown. He could see exactly how many lunches he had left each time. The school provides a monthly calendar with what is being served for lunch each day. The first semester, he went through all of his lunches within a few weeks time. The next semester, he gave more careful thought of what he really wanted to spend his lunch credits on. This semester, he has really been able to think critically about what he really wants to eat for lunch. If it is not what he wants to spend his money on, he will wait. It is really working for us and he is learning to budget his money and realize how quickly he can burn through money if he is not careful.

Allowance

Vered — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:20:32 +0000

Allowance is a good way to teach about budgets because a cash allowance automatically creates a budget: they can only spend what they have, and with each item they want, they need to decide if they're willing to spend the amount needed to get it.

If adults didn’t have access to credit, they would be way better at budgeting too.

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Mommy Blogger Wannabe.

I manage my kids' activities at UpToUs.

Thanks for the tips!

AmberS — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:39:07 +0000

My daughter is coming up on school age, and starting to understand money. I want to get started on teaching her about it, but I didn't know how. There were some great tips in here!

~ Amber

www.strocel.com

Stay positive!

Judith in Umbria — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:26:38 +0000

If you concentrate on how to afford things or experiences rather than on what is impossible or unaffordable, kids grow up without that tearing need to have 47 sweaters right now. Naturally 'can't afford it' comes up, but I think it should not be the focus because denying oneself feels wrong. It's like you've been dieting 3 months and someone comes over with a big whipped cream pie just for you. Will you eat one piece? Probably not.

http://www.judithgreenwood.com/thinkonit/