Today I'm going to tell you exactly why I don't think you should give your children a piggy bank if you want to encourage them to save!I should say before I start that all children are different and this is my opinion based on my experience of my two who are great little savers. ;-)Both of my children are brilliant at saving, Miss Frugal especially although I think that's more because she's older and gets more money each month, therefore has more money to save. When we booked to go to New York, she saved more money than I managed to with a combination of pocketmoney, babysitting … [Read more...]
Why I’m proud that my teenager has two designer handbags….
I thought long and hard about whether to post this because I know some of you will be shaking your head right now and thinking how bad it is that my teenage daughter has two designer handbags. I bet lots of you will have your finger hovering over the cross on the right hand side of the page ready to move on to something that really is frugal rather than this 'waste of money' and that's OK.But I'd rather you stayed to listen to why I'm proud and why it really isn't a bad thing.((This post may contain affiliate links - I'm just putting it out there so you know. You pay the exactly the … [Read more...]
13 clever ways to help your child develop a healthy attitude to money….
We've all heard the saying that 'Money won't buy you happiness' and although I completely agree with that, I also can't deny that having money certainly makes like a lot easier! For that reason, I want my children to leave home (not yet but one day ;-)) with a healthy attitude to money and to be able to budget and save and do all the grown up money stuff that it took me years to figure out after I left home.As I was trying to list some of the things I do to with my two to help them learn about money, I actually realised that I do more than I thought I did and I bet you're the same - some … [Read more...]
Children are never too young to learn about money….
One thing I can never understand is the fact that, here in the UK, we spend almost 13 years (from aged 3-16) teaching our children things that someone, somewhere has decided that they need to know but we spend no time at all teaching them basic money management skills.I know for a fact that I would rather my children learn about financial matters so they can leave school confident that they know how to calculate and manage a monthly budget and that they know about the many financial products that are out there. I'm pretty sure they'll find that more useful than learning about the features … [Read more...]
What lessons are we teaching our children about money….
What did your parents teach you about money?Two things I remember being told are that money doesn't grow on trees and also being told that you don't get paid for what you do, it's what you know how to do - neither of them seem like huge life lessons, do they?But they really are.... Money doesn't grow on trees Money doesn't grow on trees comes from the fact that it's easy to think that money is endless - especially to a child who sees you walk up to a cash machine and walk away with cash or watches you hand over your card to pay for things as it just looks so easy to them.It's … [Read more...]
What happens when you let your 12 year old go back to school shopping on their own….
This time last year we'd just spent a fortune on a whole new school uniform to buy for Miss Frugal as she was going up to secondary school. As is the case with lots of schools, the uniform list is extensive with much of it only being available directly from the school or from certain suppliers - all costing more than I could have got it for elsewhere.Even the pencil case and calculator were £10 and 'highly recommended' for students and obviously, she wanted this as she didn't want to be the only one not to have it.Fast forward to this year's back to school preparations and it's been … [Read more...]
