kids and money

[Girleymom3]

how are you teaching your kids about money and how to manage it?

[chickn]

Ugghhhh...what a struggle we're having and I'm just not sure how to fix it.

Dd is an only child and the only grandchild to two sets of grandparents and until recently the only child in the whole stinking family (she's now got 4 baby cousins). We're a close knit bunch...lots of holiday gatherings, great aunts at soccer games, second cousins at piano recitals...there's always a family face at an event. So between the 30 or so of them (and us...we're to blame too) she wants for nothing....and she almost never EVER asks for anything. She doesn't have to.

She works tremendously hard, piano, soccer, school newspaper. She does chores. She babysits and housesits and pet sits in the neighborhood.

She gets an allowance. $9 a week, $4 of it has to go to savings.

We do charity work all the time and I know she KNOWS that other people don't have gifts fall from the sky....but some days....it seems like she doesn't realize what it takes to earn money and what little that money can get you.

So all that sounds really bad....but she loves flea market and thrift store finds. Way happier to hit 5 yard sales to pick up bags of new clothes. And takes good care of her things. I can't remember the last "lost" or "broken" item.

Maybe she does get it....and I'm over analyzing. Dh and I, put ourselves through college, working hideous jobs and long hours. We barely had a roof over our head and food on our table. We spent 7 long years renovating a DUMP into a home. And continue to do a lot of our work on our own...time permitted (dh travels a lot). We clearly understand what it takes to earn a dollar and keep it...and I want her to have that same understanding perhaps without the roaches.

Liz

[Doodlebug]

We started early with DS. He got an "allowance" for helping out at home. A dollar a week for the longest time. When he hit his teen years we upped it to $20 a month. We are cheap!! LOL Our basis for that was if DH or myself wanted something we could just buy it, but he had no way to do anything he wanted. He is by nature a saver and a giver. He does 2 yards (the grandparents) and freelance computer work for his spending money now. He ALWAYS pays his tithes first--no matter how small it is. He saves, uses coupons, or free shipping codes on line. He manages his college scholarship money just fine. I think that he learned from watching us, at least I like to think so. His goal at this point is to graduate from college and not owe anyone a dime, and he can do it! He knows that we struggled to pay off DHs student loans (I had none) and he doesn't want that and neither do we.
He takes care of all of his belongings because, other than clothes and his laptop, he has saved and bought ALL of his electronics---hard work and saving every cent does pay off. I buy his clothes and shoes, and he supplements here and there. I buy his hygeine stuff as well, BUT he doesn't hesitate to stop and pickup whatever I need from the store, often times just paying for it himself. He helps out at home, at church, at school, visiting his Grandpa at the nursing home and until she passed last week, he visited my Mama almost every day. He makes me SOOOOO proud.

I say all that to say, just keep doing what you are doing, they do notice, but it is up to them what they do with the knowledge.

[goldengal2]

My kids were made to work from the time they were teenagers. I figured this would teach them the value of money. On occasions, I would match their savings with a 0.5 to 1 ratio.