Since the kids are back in school, right now is a great time of year to teach them some solid budgeting skills that they can take with them for the rest of their lives. If you have little ones, they’ll learn more about math as they learn about money, and if you have older kids, they can learn about how to save money as they are soon to be working and eventually will be on their own in the world, setting their own budgets. Here are three tips for teaching them those budgeting fundamentals.
Show the Difference Between “Want” and “Need”
We all know that any kind of consumerism starts with the impulse to buy – all the consumer media bombards us to the point that buying stuff starts to feel like second nature. This is no different for kids when they hound parents for a certain item. You don’t have to go as far as my Mom who would ask “Are you going to die if you don’t get this?” but it helps to explain that “needing” something isn’t the same as “wanting” it.
Start Saving Early
I was lucky that my father owned a business when I was a kid, so before I started regular school (and even after A.M. Kindergarten) my father would take me to the bank to show me how it worked, and signed me up for a savings account when I was 4 years old. He taught me at a young age that saving money meant I had future fun – for example, if I was able to save enough money, I could have the occasional treat. (I still have the account, by the way.)
Use a Spreadsheet
Now that we’re in the computer age, budget spreadsheets are our friend. For the older kids, it’s a great way for them to visualize what a real budget would look like, from the food spending, to the bills, to the emergency funds. A Google search for “free budget spreadsheet” brings up tons of hits for different kinds of budgets.
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