We don't have any rules around saving pocket money here and we leave it up to the kids whether they want to save their money or spend it.  Obviously I want them to learn to save but at aged 10 and 12, I'd rather they saved because they wanted to and not because I told them that they had to if you know what I mean.Miss Frugal has been doing really well with her money management since we got her a debit card with GoHenry. The app really encourages her to save with a great savings tracker which seems to be doing the job as far as making her want to save some of her pocket money but I don't … [Read more...]

Both of my children have received pocketmoney for a good few years now as I really believe that learning to manage their own pocketmoney is a great way to help them learn money management skills that will be invaluable when they’re older.We don’t have rules on what they have to do with their money as I’d rather they learned themselves so I don’t tell them what they can and can’t buy (within reason) and I don’t make them save a set amount out of their weekly allowance. I think this has helped them learn more because they've had the chance to make mistakes with their money – they now realise … [Read more...]

I try and teach my children about how to be financially responsible and I until yesterday, I was secretly a little bit smug about how well I was doing.After all, Miss Frugal has a debit card and manages her money really well and Master Frugal does a great job of saving his weekly pocket money for something he really wants rather than wasting it.But then yesterday, Master Frugal said something that completely wiped the smug smile off my face (and also made me laugh that hard that I nearly spat my drink out, but's that's not the point). "When you leave school, how much money do you get … [Read more...]

I'm used to companies targeting their advertising to my children but this week a large company has taken advantage of Miss Frugal and made her feel uncomfortable in one of their branches and that is unacceptable.I'm not going to name the company as that's not really my thing but I am going to share her experience because as a parent teaching a child about money management, this is something that I hadn't expected or considered so we'd never discussed how to deal with situations like this.I pay Miss Frugal's pocket money into her debit card account each week and she has a debit card so … [Read more...]

 It's been a while since I've written one of these posts isn't it?I really do believe that it's never to early to start teaching children the value of money and I strongly feel that it should be a subject covered in the National Curriculum both at primary and secondary level.  But as much as I'm sure that most teachers try to cover this, it's not currently covered as a stand alone subject so it's our job as parents to make sure we help our children learn about finance and the impacts it can have on their life when their older.  That's why I started writing these … [Read more...]

I've haven't really been on the ball with these posts lately I'm afraid as real life has taken up way more time than normal and I've struggled to find the time to blog as much as I would have liked to!  Anyway, things seem to be settling down now and I read a really interesting thread on Facebook last week that I wanted to share with you to see what your thoughts are on the subject so here I am.Basically, someone asked for advice on what she should tell her children when she couldn't afford something and opinions were pretty much evenly split between being open and honest and just … [Read more...]