The Currie Way Of Life: Trying To Raise Money Savvy Kids

"Can't you just buy a new one" Kaitlyn (6yrs old) whinged to me at end of last year after breaking a toy being careless with it.

"No I can't just go out and buy a new one, these things cost money, you need to learn that money doesn't grow on trees"

And so began my hunt for ways to teach my kids more about the value of money.

I've always been a budgeting, let's try and fix this not just replace it kind of person. I've tried not to spoil my kids, I set small budgets for birthdays and Christmas. I tend to buy clothes for them when the old ones are too gross to be allowed out. But sometimes they still just didn't get it.
I've always encouraged chores and helping out the family. I've given pocket money for things that go above and beyond the normal 'pack your toys away, put your dirty clothes in the basket' but the message wasn't getting across.

So I jumped online to see what I could find.

I got some great money boxes from moneysavvykids.com.au. It's a great little website with a range of colourful money boxes for kids.

The cool thing about these money boxes is there are 4 sections; save, spend, donate and invest.

I ordered a blue and pink one and they made great Christmas presents for Kaitlyn and Bradley.

Yesterday we sat down and had a chat. We had a list of chores and they had to pick 4 chores each (one for each section in the money box). If they do their chores everyday (Monday to Friday) they would get $2 per chore to put in their money box. So they could get a total of $8 a week.

Once we picked out the chores we jumped online and looked up charities for the 'donate' section.
We looked at children's hospitals, animals, horse rescue centres, the crisis in Sudan, cancer research and drought relief for farmers to name just a few.

Kaitlyn and Bradley chose two charities each that they would like to donate their money to.
At the end of the first term of school the money box will be emptied: savings money into their bank, spending money into their pockets for a trip to the shop, donate money will be forwarded to their chosen charity and the invest money-well I gotta do some more research about that but I'm hoping to find somewhere to invest those $$.

At the end of each school term we will do the same. They will have the opportunity to spend their money, pick new charities and help deposit their savings into the bank accounts.

I've created some chore charts for them and have stuck them on their linen cupboard outside their bedroom for them to look at and tick off each chore as it's done each day after school.

So far I'm very optimistic about this approach, we have let the kids take the lead by choosing chores and looking through charities, talking about investing money to make it 'grow' and adding money to the bank accounts mummy and daddy made for them years ago.

At the end of first term I'll write another post and let you know how successful we have been. I'm determined to see this through.

I want my kids to learn about what's going on in the world, and how many people there are out there to help others. I want them to learn patience in saving for what they want. I want them to learn to be wise with investing money and I want them to have fun!!