Great 'Teach kids to save money' Hunt

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  • arran_m wrote: »
    i had a different upbringing, i was just expected to do chores etc because they needed to be done, without a reward, i mean even for passing exams some of my friends were given cah insentives i find it wrong, example you should make your bed because it needs to be done, you need to keep a tidy house not because someone is going to give you pocket money for it ! rant over :) i never really got a set allowance till i went to secondary (£10) a week which i saved , and spent on stuff other than the basics

    Wow - that's more than I ever got!! My only income was babysitting for the neighbours, and yet I had friends who got to keep the child allowance as their own "spends" !! I too did jobs because it was expected of me - we were all expected to pitch in.
  • Vaila
    Vaila Posts: 6,301 Forumite
    LooniesMum wrote: »
    Wow - that's more than I ever got!! My only income was babysitting for the neighbours, and yet I had friends who got to keep the child allowance as their own "spends" !! I too did jobs because it was expected of me - we were all expected to pitch in.

    iagree , i think that children should do things because irs expected of them and not because its means getting pocket money etc, when i say i got £10 a week it was mainly for travel and school lunch costs, the rest which wasnt s lot was saved, wow i to be able to actually keep your child benefit as your own, and not on your upkeep ie food, clothes school stuff ive actually never heard of parents allowing that before
  • Errata
    Errata Posts: 38,230
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    edited 8 October 2010 at 11:58AM
    It's hard for small children to understand money. A £1 coin is just a shiny gold thing to them. Using a proxy sometimes works and helps them to understand eg 3 chocolate bars equals a pound coin, and the new book/bike/whatever they want is tens or hundreds of chocolate bars.
    .................:)....I'm smiling because I have no idea what's going on ...:)
  • tiff
    tiff Posts: 6,608
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    My two are 12 and 10, they save half of any money they are given for birthdays and Christmas but have only been doing so in the last couple of years. Half goes in the savings account, the other half is kept in their purse/wallet at home that I look after. DD loves seeing how much is written in the building society book. DS always has something planned for his money but because I always shop around to get the best price, he does too and he knows he will get more for his money this way. He has his name down for a paper round and sticking up skittles, once he starts one of these jobs I'm going to get him a young persons account at Lloyds. You can choose to have an ATM card, or to use it as a debit card, not both.

    When I was at primary school (I'm 41) we could save in school with the TSB (I think), I wish they did this in schools still.
    “A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” - Dave Ramsey
  • niamhirl
    niamhirl Posts: 41 Forumite
    Hi all,
    This method of my Dad's only works if you are a farmer (Contrary to popular belief - farmers aren't rich, well not in 80s Ireland)
    Like many other posts we did not get money for doing chores, they were expected of us.
    However, in order to teach us the value of money Dad give us each one of his cow calfs to look after when we were old enough.
    We could decide whether to breed from her or and sell the offspring or just sell the cow when she was grown enough to sell and then buy another calf. This meant that we received quite a large some of money usually about once a year when it came time to sell at the mart, but we had to be careful and not spend it all in to quickly. Of my two older brothers one was very careful and always had money and the other one spent his way to quickly and then had 2 or 3 months without pocket money. I tried to ask Dad for money back for the milk he sold by milking my cow, but he cleverly replied that the milk money he got for her covered feeding and housing her during the winter.
    Unfortunately my cow was a bit thick and eat something posinous and died - so in the end my Mum and Dad gave me some money when I needed things for school trips etc. However in adult life I managed to get myself in to debt trouble where as my brothers didn't and I definitely think the difference is that they learned about the value of money much better than I due to Dad's very valuable lesson. Same principle would apply with sheep and if you have a reasonable size garden and decent shed you could do it with chickens but with a faster return and the kids could sell any extra eggs obviously explaining to customers that the are not vacinated against salmonella.
    Cross Stitch Member No 32: 1. Complete farm house cross stitch for parents anniversary August 2012.
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  • bylromarha
    bylromarha Posts: 10,085
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    Mine are 6 and 4. They help me shop in Tesco during school holidays. The 4 year old finds the type of product with the name tesco on it, the 6 year old looks to see if there is a price cheaper than that one. They look for the product that matches the coupon in their hand, and hand it over to the cashier. Birthday money mostly goes in the bank by them - 6 year old understands the basic concept of interest (the bank are paying him to look after his money as it means they can do more stuff) and spots interest rates as we walk through town.

    Love the mummy shop idea!
    Who made hogs and dogs and frogs?
  • Becles
    Becles Posts: 13,163
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    I don't pay mine for chores. We all live here and we all make a mess, so we all have to help tidy it up.

    I have taken them supermarket shopping from an early age and we've looked at price tags and worked out what brand and pack size was the best value, is pre-packed better than loose produce, and so on.

    When they've pestered for junk like Dairylea Lunchables, we've worked out the cost of buying individual ingredients and making our own up compared to the ready made pack. There's also the nutrition angle, as they picked better quality ingredients so and it's much better for them to eat chedder instead of processed cheese.

    My parents were very secretive about money and I left home without a clue on how to budget and run a home. Got myself into a mess and had to learn the hard way which was expensive. My boys are 13 and 11 and are aware that I have to pay the mortgage, bills, council tax etc. They've seen my SOA style budget, so they know how much comes in, what goes out and what little is left over which is why I can't afford everything they ask for!

    I give them pocket money monthly. At first they spent it within a couple of days and then whinged because they were skint for the rest of the month. They've since learned they need to spread it out.

    They also have mobile phones with PAYG credit that is topped up monthly. They've learned to make that last too, as I refuse to top up mid-month.
    Here I go again on my own....
  • Becles wrote: »
    I don't pay mine for chores. We all live here and we all make a mess, so we all have to help tidy it up.


    I try to balance it out with my 2 as they're still very little - so if they make a mess they certainly don't get paid for tidying up and some things are just expected (e.g. helping to set the table or clear the table). On the other hand if they take the kitchen waste out to the compost bin (which I hate!) then they'll likely earn 2p ! (Then you get a report on the number of worms and mini beasts etc.... :rotfl:) Also I try to reward the helpfulness or kindness (e.g. helping without being asked) rather than the actual task that they did. My youngest one (5) takes heavy shopping off me with an insistent "I'll carry it Mum!" - hope he still does it when he's 16!! :)
  • tiff
    tiff Posts: 6,608
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    I pay mine for chores so that they dont believe you just get given money without working for it, as in real life.
    “A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” - Dave Ramsey
  • FatVonD
    FatVonD Posts: 5,315
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    My son gets pocket money once a month on payday, once it's gone it's gone and if he asks for a sub of next months I usually tell him that there are things I want too buy I have to wait for payday and so does he!

    The thing that seems to have made most difference to his attitude is that he's started to sell games he's completed/clothes he's outgrown on ebay. He checks what similar items are selling for and checks those ending to see what things sell and what end with no bids and prices accordingly.

    Now if I could just get him to take the parcels to the Post Office...
    Make £25 a day in April £0/£750 (March £584, February £602, January £883.66)

    December £361.54, November £322.28, October £288.52, September £374.30, August £223.95, July £71.45, June £251.22, May£119.33, April £236.24, March £106.74, Feb £40.99, Jan £98.54) Total for 2017 - £2,495.10
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