Not Made Of Money » Kids And Money

How We’re Teaching Our Kids About Money

Dana Joseph — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 13:49:57 +0000

I’ve written in the past how we are teaching the kids about finances. They each have their own tithing, spending, and saving jars. But just because they know how to divide their money, doesn’t really mean they understand much about managing money. We try to teach lessons just during everyday occurences and try to show our children that life is not about money, but money is a part of everyday life. Here are a few ways we are teaching them without really teaching them!

1. I have them check prices in the store. They like to look for sale signs, buy one get one free stickers, and especially the red target clearance stickers. I let them know what’s on the shopping list and they help to find the item and to compare the prices.

2. I talk about prices during shopping outings. If they see an item they like, I mention how much it costs and then compare it to something than can relate to (i.e. you would have to save all the money you get for your birthday to buy this!).

3. Playing board games that involve exchanges of money. Monopoly gives the kids a feel for buying and selling and in managing their money, even if it is only for play.

4. We let them in on our money conversations. The kids know that mom and dad take turns every week paying the bills. They hear our conversations about planned purchases. They see us give money to our Church and to other charity organizations.

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To Limit Spending, Limit Your Exposure to Advertising

Dana Joseph — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:40:38 +0000

One of the things we’ve noticed in our family is that the more advertising we see, the more stuff we are likely to want. This is especially true with our children. We try to minimize the amount of advertising they are exposed to which helps to alleviate some of the “I wants”. It is tricky though because advertisers are constantly trying to woo our kids.

One of the ways we attempt to keep marketing material away from the children is to minimize their tv time and their exposure to commercials. We have a rule in our house, “when the commercials come on, the tv goes off”. They are trained to shut the tv off for a few minutes while the commercials play and then turn it back on when the show they are watching resumes. We are usually close by to enforce this rule. The kids have limits on the shows they are allowed to watch as well as the length of time per day.

Another way we minimize their exposure to advertising is by throwing out all the toy catalogs and magazines that are sent their way. American Girl is one of the worst offenders. We have never purchased anything from them, but somehow they got our daughter’s name. They faithfully send her their latest catalog so she can see all the dolls she simply must have, at a cost of $100 or more per doll. Yikes! Now we sort through our mail before bringing it into the house, and toss any catalogs or sales flyers directed at the kids.

For myself, I don’t browse catalogs or stores where I know I will be tempted with impulse purchases. I have come to recognize that simply removing these things from my line of vision helps me to see more clearly our goal of saving money and living within our means. When I am feeling particularly emotional, I avoid advertising like the plague. No TV, magazines, online shopping, etc.

Now we don’t tune out all advertising. That would be impossible to do. However, we find that by keeping it to low levels, everyone in the family is not focused on the next “thing they have to have”.

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Book Review: Raising Kids With Just A Little Cash

Dana Joseph — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 13:13:00 +0000

I checked this book out a few weeks ago from my local library. Even though it was published in 1996, the money saving ideas it presents are valid for today. The book contains a myriad of ideas about exactly how to save money on kid related items as well as stories from real families who practice thrifty living.

The author (Lisa Reid) begins the book with a chapter on guidelines for thrifty living. She discusses general goals to help reign in spending. This includes cutting down on waste, find ways to get the same thing for less, and to stop buying things that provide little value.

There is an entire chapter devoted to clothing your child from the baby years all the way to the teen years. She describes her yard sale method for finding bargains as well as ways to shop at thrift stores and consignment stores. I especially liked her ideas for transforming used clothing into something more acceptable to a pre-teen or teen by “trending it up” a bit.

Toys are addressed in their own chapter too. She advocates simplifying the toys in your home and purchasing more of the traditional type toys that will be played with for longer and not discarded to the “I’m tired of it” pile. Games, puzzles, dress up clothes, lincoln logs, legos, etc. are good examples of these type of toys and can easily be found at garage sales. She even gives a few ideas for making your own toys.

Other chapters provided include entertainment and education ideas, frugal birthday parties, traveling with children, and holiday celebrations. As in the previous chapters, specific money saving ideas are shared as well as real life family stories of those “making it happen”.

I can highly recommend this book as an easy read for any parent looking for ways to save money on kid related expenses. Since this book has been around a while you should be able to borrow it from your local library.

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Money, Math & Tennis Lessons - They Really Do Go Together

Dana Joseph — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:25:54 +0000

Our children have been wanting to learn tennis for a while now. We haven’t paid for lessons yet because in our area they are very expensive even at a group rate. Since the kids did not even have tennis racquets, we told them that they would need to save their money until they could pay for half of the amount of their racquets, and then we would kick in the remaining half. We figured this way we would find out if they were really serious about learning tennis. For the past couple of months they’ve been checking the prices on tennis racquets and counting how much they have saved up. Finally, this past weekend they had each saved up enough money to pay for their half of the racquet.

On Saturday we went and they each purchased a tennis racquet. They were so excited with their purchases and we were thrilled that they used some financial discipline to afford them. We are working hard to train the kids to manage money wisely which includes the principles of tithing, saving, and spending. It was fun to sneak in some math lessons too in a fun way (i.e. How much is half of the racket price? Sales tax is 7% of the total price so how much tax will you pay?)

Yesterday afternoon we headed out to our community tennis court and spent the afternoon teaching the kids the basics. The weather was gorgeous here in sunny Florida and I watched as the kids followed my husband around the tennis court like little ducklings. He taught them some tennis drills and the basics of how to hold the racket, etc. It was a most enjoyable afternoon and I can’t help but think we will be seeing a lot of the tennis court in the months to come. I’m sure I’ll be able to squeeze in a few more math lessons and hopefully the kids will remember how to “save up for something you want”.

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