Creating Good Money Sense!

Trying to develop proper money sense in children is a difficult thing. I don’t really think there is a right or wrong way to do it. Some of my children definitely love to spend money on anything they see and others always save and save until they have enough for exactly what they want. In our home throughout the year we really do not buy things for our children outside of the holidays. We buy the clothing they need or various things they need for their extra curriculars, but the extras they always have to wait for.

Our children have a chore chart and calendar that they maintain and each week they are responsible for their own spaces, setting the table on certain nights, vacuuming and folding laundry on certain days. They get paid $5 per week for their chores and they all usually save up for a little bit before asking to spend their money. We really encourage them to find things that they are interested in and not to just impulsively spend their money. Sometimes we let them just get whatever they want though. I think it is important for them to realize the regret in wasting money for short term happiness. Hopefully if they learn that at a young age it will discourage them from doing it as often or at all as an adult!

Today we had a city day. We had a few plans but ended up changing things around when we arrived! Noah of course wanted to go back to Toys R Us, as he had saved up some more allowance and this time Ella and Caile could spend their money. Caile has been saving since her birthday for a full sized Zoomer. She managed to get one half price at Toys R Us and was very excited about it. We decided to go to Chapters after and check out their Beanie Boo’s. Ella was very excited to find a huge version of her favorite monkey there for a great price! Both kids felt great about their deals.

We decided after our shopping to enjoy the sunny warm day and took a walk at Shubie Park. The kids wanted to see if we could find some geocaches there so we decided to explore a bit! At the end we let the kids have a little playground fun too. Well myself included. The slide was very entertaining!

On our way home we decided to treat ourselves to supper! I had won a gift card from Sweet William’s Family Diner in Windsor. It was supposed to be a dinner for 2 for $75 but they told us it covered all of our meals, so we were very excited at the free meal! We do not eat out hardly at all as a family and our children have a great understanding of how much can be bought elsewhere with the expense of a restaurant. They love getting treated out for free just as much as Sandy and I do! It was a great little spot and a perfect way to end a great day!