Money, Money, Money…Money can be a hard subject in any family and can be hard to handle. So, how do we teach our kids to handle money? How do we teach them to work hard to earn money, save, pay their bills on time, and spend wisely?
Below you will find the ways we are currently teaching our eight-year-old these important lessons about money. I want her to grow up into a responsible young lady and grasp the concept of money. Right now she is learning to be responsible with “mom bucks”. All her real money is going into a savings account for her to use either on a first car or college, whichever she chooses.
Working Hard to Earn Money
So, how are we teaching our daughter that when she works hard, she will earn money? First, she has weekly chores she is responsible for. Every day she must make her bed and clean her room, clean her bathroom, and sweep the kitchen. Once a week she sweeps out my husband’s shop. She is also resposible for having excellent behavior at home and at school and doing her homework every night. She earns around 20 “mom bucks” each week.
She also has a chance to earn extra “mombucks” by doing extra jobs. Sweeping the house, dusting baseboards, or scooping poop in the yard are just some of the extra jobs that are availiable.
Saving Money
Saving money has been the hardest part for us to teach. Since we are teaching our daughter with “mom bucks”, we are using the real money grandparents and other family give her to help her learn about a savings account and interest. My husband took our daughter to the bank and opened her a savings account. When she gets money we take her to the bank and she puts the money in her account. She loves to get her montly statements to see how much she has in the bank and how much she has earned in interest.
Paying Bills
I know my girl is young, but I want her to already have the concept that everything costs money. I talk to her about this when we are out at the grocery store, paying mothly bills, turning on lights at home, or getting gas. I really want her to grasp this concept. So, every Sunday she pays bills to us with her “mom bucks”. If she’s done her chores throughout the week, she has more than enough to pay. We charge her rent of 6 “mom bucks” and then water and electricity usage of 2 “mom bucks”. That gives her 12 “mom bucks” to have extra throughout the weeks, even more, if she’s done extra jobs or saved from previous weeks.
Spending Money
When we go out my daughter usually brings her purse with her “mom bucks” in it. If she sees something that she would like to buy we talk to her about whether she has enough “mom bucks” to buy the item as well as pay her bills on Sunday, especially if it’s the middle of the week. If she wats to buy it, I purchase the item and she pays me the “mom bucks”. The hardest part of this for her has been trying to remember to save for her upcoming bills and to remember to set aside those “mom bucks”.
There are so many ways to teach younger kids about money and I’m sure as our daughter gets older, we will be changing our method and adding to it often. As she gets older, I’m sure we will need to include teaching her about making money goals and credit cards, and the dangers it can lead to. It’s important to me and my husband that she has good money habits as she gets older.
