Saving is a skill that needs to be taught and we need to be good role models to our children to help them learn this important skill. Having a good attitude to money and passing that down to our children is very important to me. Like I teach them manners I want to teach them the skills they will need in the future to manage their money. I saw many friends get into debt when they started university and it quickly becomes a downward spiral. Chloe has just taken a first job and for me it more about what she is learning money wise than how much she actually earns. I don’t expect her to work lots of hours, she deserves to let her hair down after studying so much all year but I do want her to learn about budgeting and managing money before she heads off to university in two years time. I want to know that she has the skills to manage her money and to also the skills to cook for herself. In many ways I consider I have done my parenting of her, I can no longer tell her what to do and tell her off. I class my role now as to guide her. Over the next two years I want to get her ready for living independently so that she doesn’t have a culture shock when she starts higher education.
How to save when there is not much spare:
- A copper jar, pop all 1ps and 2ps in the jar each night this will soon add up. We have a spirit bottle full of 5p coins and once counted up it was £60 which is a nice surprise.
- Sell on toys or clothes using Facebook groups. This way there are no fees and no postage costs.
- When you are paid put 5% away as savings.
- Don’t have take-aways instead make your own with fake-aways and save the money that would have been spent on a takeaway. This will add up each month, teens are notorious for eating out at every opportunity!
Chloe is already saving for a car as she turns seventeen early next year. We have stressed why she needs to save and the importance of paying all of her outgoings in good time. Even at her young age she is learning that owning a mobile phone and hopefully a car are liabilities that she must pay for each month as the last thing she wants is car finance with bad credit. Millennials are growing up in a very different world to when I was a teenager. As a teen I had no monthly bills but now most young people own a mobile phone on contract from a young age and they need to understand the responsibility of these contracts.
What ways are you teaching your children about responsible money behaviour?
This is so true and something I am so keen to do with mine. I never had much guidance growing up and as a result I definitely get too frivolous with money. I wish I was more of a natural saver! So I want to instill a sense of how important it is to both of mine. Good tips 🙂