Teaching your kids the importance of saving money

When we started the Dave Ramsey program we also got our kids on board with us. Dave {yea we’re on a first name basis…haha} encourages parents to not hide their financial situation from their kids. Not that you should tell them every detail, but it’s okay to inform them of what you are trying to do. You might think it’s silly since my kids are all under 8, but my two oldest got on board with us, and totally help keep us on track. When we first talked to them about paying off debt we explained {mostly to our 8 year old} what it was and what we would be able to do once we paid it of. It was really cute one day when my husband was teaching my daughter about credit cards and why we aren’t using them. My husband still uses the credit card to purchase stuff for his business, and the other day when he asked for the credit card my daughter said “dad you’re not supposed to use that” Isn’t that so cool! We did explain why we were using it and that the job daddy was doing would pay it back.

When we paid off our van in March, we took the kids with and celebrated by going out to dinner after. They were just as excited as us to know that we own our van and that we don’t have payments to make on it anymore!

They use only three envelopes: Give, Spend, and Save. My oldest has loved it. She is a total saver. The other day the Ice Cream Man {whom I wish my kids still believed was the music truck} came by and they were begging for ice cream. I told them if they wanted it they would have to use their own money. My son went and grabbed it without a second thought. And my daughter said “I want ice cream, but I want to save my money for my mission”. And she is not kidding! So she opted for an Otter Pop out of our own freezer!

When we used to go to the store and we would have to tell our kids “we don’t have money for that” it made us feel poor, and I think our oldest was starting to worry that we didn’t have money. Since starting to use the envelope system we have changed our words to “It’s not in the envelope, maybe next time”. They completely understand what that means and they don’t say to me, “we never have any money”. Sometimes we do have it in the envelope and when they ask for the pack of gum, that they promise to share with each other, we let them get it.

So get your kids on board. It’s okay to let them know your financial goals and teach them to save. Come back next week and I’ll tell you about what our kids are saving for, and how they are doing it!!