Bringing children up the moneysaving way

RosieBee_2

hi there.
I am so glad you started this post. I have 22 month old boy/girl twins and desperate to save money as well. Luckily, we have very generous friends and family who have given all their baby clothes to us. Unfortunately, they all had girls, so my poor little guy lost out there but my mum, charity shops and the kindness of friends on various holidays and their birthday have helped to beef up his collection.
I know I cannot rely on the hand-me-downs for too long so I have started looking at ebay for clothing bundles. someone once told me that girls clothing bundles on ebay are usually in fab condition (I guess as opposed to boys who may be more rough with their kit)...
It seemed so easy in the first year when the only costs were nappies and formula, but when weaning hit I was mortified at the food wastage after every meal. I still battle with food waste as mine are now at the non-sunction cup plate and bowl stage, learning how fun it is to tip things upside down. Looking after two means I dont always get to save the food before it goes flying, but when I do I find a way to use the food for my hubby and my meals.
Although I believe in organic, I cannot afford it. So, I go for the tesco value range fruit and veg and invest in a really good organic fruit and veg cleaner that at least gets rid of the surface pesticides and gunk. i know it is far from ideal, but the stuff is so much cheaper than the other produce that I feel it is worth the savings as long as I know it is clean as possible.
for outings, I do what the others do. library rhyme times are free and fabulous for opening up the world of singing to the kids. they also have reading clubs which I havent tapped into due to scheduling conflicts, but they are free as well. toddler groups are good value for money, and I look out for the ones who charge a "per family" rate than a cost per child. most I pay is £1.50 total for a cup of tea and a room full of distractions/activities within a safe environment for the kids. Outdoors is great too. My husband often reminds me that at this age, they are just happy for a change of scenery - no need to pressure ouselves into going to expensive zoos etc when we can wow them with one-to-one attention at a park, pond or swimming lido.
with toys, I only buy used off of gumtree and ebay and preloved. setting up parameters on distance willing to travel (for the bulkier items), max price, type of seller (new or used), etc... and then setting that search as an alert means that the website is doing the work for you finding only offers that fit your criteria - thus preventing you from getting sucked into wanting to purchase something that is too far away and wasting your time.
I hope this helped - obviously mine are young and a lot of what the women above posted doesn't apply just yet! however, I took notes and am ready to approach money issues much the way they recommended.
having one of each at the same time had meant that they had to learn very early on that everything is "theirs" not "his" or "hers". understanding that will hopefully carry forward in how they work together to share and respect the things they have (says the naive new mum!)....
my best savings tip thus far is buy used books from libraries!!!! 10p per book and my house is stocked with them. some charity shops charge so much for books that I just stopped looking there.
they aren't always age appropriate, but I buy em anyway and save them for when they are older. I also save them up and use them as a reward/incentive present when they have done something really helpful or learned something new.

BAGGY

I keep a rainy day box too. Stocked with end of line and sale items like colouring books, glitter and model kits. Some things you can get in the wilkos or sainsbos sale you cant think of an immediate use for but craft stuff is good for letting them loose on if they have to make cards for granddad or junk models.

bylromarha

As well as the above things, we talk talk talk talk.

I talk to mine making the shopping lists and explaining the reasoning.

I talk to them going round the supermarket and why I'm making one brand choice over another.

I talk to them about supermarket tricks, like sweets near the tills.

I talk to them about the adverts they see and hear.

I talk to them about what I do with the things they've outgrown.

They find the relevant coupons in the coupon pack.

They make their own choices with their pocket money, and feel the disappointment when one can get something amazing which the other can't afford, as they chose to save up.

Been doing this since they've been old enough to understand each concept. At the age of 6 and 8, they can give pretty good defintions of brand, marketing and advertising!

kavics17

I use cloth nappies. I invested appr £50 and they will last me till potty training. My mum cut up some muslins and I use them as wipes, I only used one pack of wipes since my daughter was born-that's when we are out and about. It costs 40p to wash the nappies every 3 days (counting water, detergant and electricity).

I also buy everything second hand; gumtree and local selling forum is my friend. I also resell the items as soon as I don't need them, more often making profit on them. I often check things how much they cost originally( and on ebay second hand) in charity shops and decide whether it's worth to buy it there. Sometimes charity shops charge more than ebay/gumtree sellers. I also have a list in hand what I will need in future for my daughter and if I see something cheap, i buy it. She is already sorted with clothes a year in advance.

Freecycle is your friend, I often give away things and often receive as well.

I cook everything from scratch so no need to buy ready food/jars.

Also I don't buy branded items -ie supermarket value shampoo will do the job. Check out baby events, they are your friends.

Raksha

Don't expect two children raised in the same family to have the same approach to money. #2 son spends as soon as he gets it. #3son saves, and lends to #2 son for an apr that would make payday loans happy...not sure where I went wrong lol

emmi_bush

I like some of the ideas that have already been mentioned and might have to look at doing a few more of them with the next one. At present we don't struggle with money, but I can't see the point in wasting money or natural resources making new things! We bought all my daughter's newborn clothes from ebay, charity shops or got free from Freecycle as well as most of her toys. One thing I do now she is a bit older is to go to all the sales to buy her clothes for the next year. That means I spread the cost and have most of them ready for when she is that age. I rarely buy anything at full price.

The only new things I bought when my daughter was born was her buggy, mattresses, breast pump and bottles and car seat (I think that was it!). Everything else was bought second hand or handed to me by friends.

The other biggest thing is to be able to say 'no' to her. Now she's older, she's started watching adverts at the childminders and so wants more of the toys. She has to either save up her pocket money for them or wait for birthday/Christmas. Even then though, I always try to get things from ebay or in the sales!

savingqueen

bylromarha wrote: »

As well as the above things, we talk talk talk talk.

I talk to mine making the shopping lists and explaining the reasoning.

I talk to them going round the supermarket and why I'm making one brand choice over another.

I talk to them about supermarket tricks, like sweets near the tills.

I talk to them about the adverts they see and hear.

I talk to them about what I do with the things they've outgrown.

They find the relevant coupons in the coupon pack.

They make their own choices with their pocket money, and feel the disappointment when one can get something amazing which the other can't afford, as they chose to save up.

Been doing this since they've been old enough to understand each concept. At the age of 6 and 8, they can give pretty good defintions of brand, marketing and advertising!

Wow this could have been me posting. Mine are also 6 and 8 and very money aware and know all about advertising etc.

My top tips include:

When you deem them old enough, give them a reasonable amount of pocket money and then when they ask for toys/mags/sweets or whatever they have to pay for them out of their own money. Mine have learned to think about what they want, check prices, consider value for money, save, pool money together, learn what coins are/how to add up and get correct change etc. They rarely buy sweets which I'm pleased about. Also when we buy something for them as a treat (out of our money) they appreciate it far more.

When they were too little for pocket money and would pester me for toys, I would say those are birthday and christmas presents which they understood. They rarely pester for anything now they are older.

Had a couple of others but forgot them now, will post later if I remember!

bethl79

I've found that it's relatively easy to keep costs down in the first few years, it's been harder as they've got to school age as they seem to quickly become so brand aware. We now have a system which works really well. Instead of pocket money, the girls each have a coin jar in which they get to earn money for being helpful. (It's not for basic things like tidying away their toys but more for if they help with things like vacuuming, washing up, helping me put washing out etc). They love counting up their money in their jars and are always really keen to earn more, so it not only teaches them the value of money but helps with their maths and counting skills.

My other money saver has been to switch to doing the bulk of my shopping at lidl. I inevitably have to do a top up shop at Tesco as I can't usually get everything I need, but even factoring this in plus the petrol to drive 5 miles to the nearest lidl has meant massive savings for us. We now spend approximately a third less on our food shop than we used to.

Peanut2013

Wonderful post!

I have a 3 month old and we've bought pretty much everything second hand. Clothes we bought a huge amount (6 bin liners) from a friend who's little boy was a year for £30

Our pram and car seats where new but bought for us. We got a box of 10 bottles, bottle warmer and electric steriliser for £25 from same friend

We're now eyeing up gumtree and eBay for clothing bundles as we don't have a huge amount of 3 months +.

Gumtree is amazing, we got his playmat on there for £5 (normally £40) and today we've picked up a monitor for £10 (normally £70)

Nursery furniture has been bought from ikea so will last him permanently and OH has made his cot (ex carpenter).

The local children's centre is great for baby groups. We have one we go to for 50p, it's great and so cheap! When he gets bigger there are lots more to do for the same amount

Madmel

Some great tips here!

As my 2 are older [13 & 12 now] we include them in discussions about credit cards and insurance - I know, riveting topics for the dinner table! However, they understand about them, and can now comment when they see adverts for payday loan companies as they understand what the APR means, and how hard you have to search for it.

We also offer an incentive for helping at home. We have a holiday cottage and a huge garden, so there are plenty of jobs. If I need some help, I'll suggest a rate for the job. It varies according to my needs , but is open to negotiation. Sometimes it's downloads, other times it's cold hard cash. Sometimes, both will help but want different rewards. They also understand that if they put in a couple of hours' work for us, it frees us up to taxi them round, take them out etc, so is worth doing. School work comes first, so they also learn about time-management.

Finally, both are decent musicians so I offered an incentive for exams. If they pass the exam, there is no reward. If they fail because they have not put in the practice, they refund me the exam fee [that has really focussed them!] If they get a merit, I give them half the fee as a reward, and a distinction gets the whole fee as a reward. They are now both at the standard where some of their exams carry UCAS points. The system is such that a distinction at grade 7 is worth more UCAS points than a pass at grade 8. However, I fear that my moneysaving leaves a bit to be desired with this as it has so far cost me a small fortune - grade 2 distinction, grade 3 merit, grade 5 merit and grade 5 distinction! Grade 8 is looming for DD1 - better get saving!