Teach My Kids about Money: Piggy Bank vs. Bank Account


teach my kids about money

Teach My Kids about Money

 

How to teach my kids about money is hard.  My boys have a gizzilion piggy banks around our house and they also have their very own savings accounts.

My boys are very “fortunate”, I use that word ironically  because their grandparents give them money ALL the time and it’s unfortunate.  Why do I say that?  Because they are given money all the time, they have no respect for it.  It’s hard to teach my kids about money when they lack respect for it.

Here’s how it starts out.  Grandma comes over and gives them money.  They place it in their piggy bank and done!   Later after grandma leaves they start looking at all this stuff they could buy.  Video games, clothes, etc..   Then they pull out their money and count it.  While they are counting it, they rip it out from the bottom of the piggy bank and their money tears.

Then they don’t want to put their money back in their bank.  So they shove it – here and there.  I find money on the ground, behind things, coming out to dryer if I don’t catch it before the wash and this drives me crazy!  It doesn’t bother my kids if money gets lost.

I’ve started taking and using their money when I don’t have cash on hand just so I can transfer money from my checking account into their savings.  Secretly I’m doing this just so they don’t lose or waste it.

I’ve tried several different ways to teach my kids about money.  How would you handle this situation?  Would you continue to let your kids use their piggy bank or would you instantly make them put it in their bank account?  How would you handle the grandparents?

I’ve thought about getting Financial Peace Junior to teach my kids about money.  Have you tried this program?

Teach My Kids about Money

 

Yard Sale Tips – How to Have as Successful Yard Sale

Yard Sale Tips

Here in Vegas, the weather will start getting cooler and with that cooler weather it’ll be a great time to earn some extra cash to use for those upcoming holiday purchases.

Check out this video and get some really neat yard sale tips.

Yard Sale Tips

Kids Allowance Wasn’t Good Enough

kids allowance

 Kids Allowance

Do you have kids?  Do you make them do chores around the house to earn an allowance?

My question for you today is…With your kids allowance, does that keep them motivated to do their chores?

In my household, we tried giving the kids allowance in lieu of  them tending to their chores, that didn’t keep them motivated.  So we decided to do something a little different and have them earn a commission on chores they did.

For our younger kids they were all excited.  It was the motivation they needed.  (Check out previous post about Commission Chore Chart)  But for our teen that didn’t motivate her.    She didn’t want to earn a kids allowance or be paid commission, so we didn’t pay her, but we still required here to help out around the house.  No Kids Allowance and No Commission!  Why wouldn’t she want that.  I couldn’t wrap my mind around how she was just doing chores anyways just missing out on the money.  Instead she decided to get a part-time job.

Guess What!  Her part time job, motivates her to earn money and in fact, she works harder now, than had she done chores at home.  Why is that?  Do you think it’s because as a parent  we don’t pay them enough?  My daughter gets paid $8.25 for an hour of work.  For about an hour or two of work at home, she would have made $20.00 bucks for the week.

I guess the amount per week isn’t motivating or not enough to buy “stuff” in our economy.

Had I provided 10-15 hours of chores for the week, maybe that would have been more motivation for her to earn a kids allowance.  I seriously doubt it.

Does your children have the same thoughts?  How do you keep them motivated with

Kids Allowance

Money Monday – Make Saving Money a Priority

Saving Money

It’s Monday and it’s time to make a list of all of the things we want to get accomplished for the week.   Get out your journal for today’s Money Monday topic and tell me what’s on your list.

What’s on my list for the week is Savings!!

Saving money is one of the hardest thing to do.   I know for me, it’s really hard to put this as a priority in my life.  We  pay our bills first, then afterwards I feel so strapped that I often tell myself their is not enough to save.

I really need to think of saving money, just like dieting.  If you want lose weight, you’ve got to diet and exercise.  It goes the same way with saving money.  I will never be able to save money unless I tell myself I cannot spend that and put it away.  Exercising my spending and money differently is the key and what it comes down to is DISCIPLINE!

How much to save is always been a concern, the financial experts tell you to save 10 to 20 % of your gross monthly income.  If you’re not use to that or if you have a lot of debt that can be really hard.  So I say deciding on the amount to save is up to you.

Some of us can save 10-20% of our income with no problem.  Other’s cannot.  I happen to be one of those families that cannot.  With living on one income and having some debt we are working to pay off, the way I save is a little different.

I’ll pay all of my bills first,  then what ever is left remaining is what I work to save.

Here’s an example:

$400.00 left after paying all of my bills

-$40.00 (10%) to go into savings

$360.00 left remaining to use for groceries, gas, etc.

Some weeks I may be able to save 20% because it’s the week I don’t have to pay our mortgage.  Having that flexibility is what make it easier to save.  Saving is extremely important, because it helps prevents you for charging things on your credit cards.

Saving Money

Do you save?  What’s your biggest savings tips?

To check out all of our Money Monday’s topics go HERE

 

 

How to Start Couponing Part 4

Welcome back to Part 4 of our How to Start Couponing series.  If you are just now joining us be sure to check out  Part 1 How to Start Couponing, Part 2 Finding the Deals and Part 3 How to save without printing coupons.

Today post is going to show you several ways to get coupons.  You may have heard me tell you these ways before, especially if you’ve followed some of my other series.  These are  the best way’s I’ve found in getting coupons.

1st – sign up with newspaper.. if you live here locally just email me and we can get you signed up to receive additional sunday newspapers for less than $1.00.  I get a total of 5 Sunday papers.  A huge savings to our $3.00 Sunday papers.

If you don’t live in the Las Vegas are you can still take advantage of discounted newspapers..

Newspaper Subscription
2nd – If purchasing extra newspapers are not within your budget.  Take a walk around your neighborhood and scope out who gets the Sunday Paper.  Take you’re coupon insert and knock on the door and introduce yourself and ask them if you can have their coupons, if they don’t use them.  Then each Sunday, head out early, grab the coupons from their papers.  A great way to save money and exercise too!

3rd – Get coupons HERE on my website.  You’ll have access to print all available coupons online.  You can print most coupons twice – so if you have a desktop and laptop that would give you 4 coupons.  Save on ink by printing in black and white.

4th – Participate in Coupon Swaps , post and ad in Craigslist.Org or Freecycle.Org, ask family, friends, neighbors and co-works for their coupons.

5th – Make rounds at places such as Coffee houses, McDonalds, Hospitals and other places you know that sells the Sunday Paper.  Lots of time you’ll find people leave their papers for others to read.  You can also approach and ask people reading their papers if they use their coupons.

6th – Hit the Recycling Bins in your neighborhood.  Beware of this, some properties consider this trespassing.  But if you live in communities like mine, we have our own recycling container that we put out on the curb each week.  Take some gloves with you and walk your neighborhood.

7th –  If need be order coupons on line.

Choose whichever method that’ll work for you!  The key is getting multiple coupons.  This way you can increase your stockpile at the lowest price possible.

I’ve just given you a lot of information in a short period of time.  Don’t feel overwhelmed.  Couponing is fun!  If you have questions, ask!  I’m here to help you.  Strive to Save 50% and work your way up from there.

How to Start Couponing: Part 3

Welcome Back to part 3 – How to Save without printing coupons.  If you are just now joining us on this series, be sure to check out Part 1 How to Start Couponing, Part 2 Finding the Deals

Another great way to save is to go online and look at your stores digital coupons.  These are coupons that you can load to your card.  However the only downfall to this is that most stores don’t double the digital coupon and they don’t allow you to upload multiple coupons and may not allow you to use these coupons towards clearanced products.

In this example with this sale, I didn’t have a coupon for this item, however my store had a coupon specifically for their customers that I was able to load directly to my card giving me an additional savings of 30%.
But you don’t always need a coupon to get a great deal.    Right now my store is advertising a sale on corn.  3 for $1.00, that’s a great price and I don’t need a coupon.

Stores run their sales cycles every quarter, the key is to purchase enough to get you through the next sale.  Start keeping track of the items you purchase and create your very own price book to find your stores trend.

Even though you have a coupon doesn’t necessarily mean you will get the best price using it.  As I stated before in the beginning it all depends on using it at the right time along with the right sale. However when you do have the right sale and the right coupon.  It’s important to have enough coupons to get you through to the next sale cycle.

When purchasing additional papers, you may want to consider one paper for each member of your household.   I purchase 5 papers per week and for me that’s sufficient for me to stock up with my family of 6.  If you don’t stock up on coupons you won’t reach your maximum savings potential.

Join me tomorrow for Part 4 where I conclude this series and share with you techniques on where to get coupons.

How to Start Couponing: Part 2

If you’re just now joining us on our How to Start Couponing Series, be sure to check out Part 1.

Alright!  Are you ready to learn how to coupon?  We’ll get out your sale ads!  If you live in Las Vegas, most of your ads should be arriving in your mailbox today, Tuesday.

Now the first thing I want you to do is look over all of the sale items listed in the ad.  The more and more you clip and coupon, you’ll start to recall coupons that you may have on hand.

You want to make sure you pay special attention to the front page and back page of your weekly ads.  Most of  the items listed on the front and back page are items at their lowest to entice you to come to the store and if applied  with coupons you can walk away with some freebies!

Here’s one sale that was on the back page of a weekly ad.

Now if you can see the Ad shows Crest Toothpaste on sale 10 for $10.00.  Even though it shows 10 for $10.00 my store sell this individually at $1.00.  I don’t have to buy 10 items for this item, that is just one way to the store entices you to buy more items.  After looking through my coupons, I happen to have $1.00 off Coupon, so guess what!!  This make this item FREE for me! Savings equals 100% using coupon.

Now FREE isn’t always the case..I may have a coupon but I may not be able to get the item for free however the savings is still significant.

Tony’s Party Time Pizza is on sale for $1.00, well I happen to have $1.00/2 coupon.  By using this coupon that I obtain from the SS (Smart Source) insert, I’ll be able to reduce the cost to 50% off, getting 2 Pizzas for the price of $1.00.  Savings equals 50% using coupon.

Depending on the store you shop at is another big factor in couponing.

Sorry for the pictures being so small… My ad, currently has Haribo Gold-Bears for $1.00, well I found a coupon online for $0.30/1.  This product is on sale 10 for $10.00.  Using this coupon at my store the cost would be $0.70.  However if you are one of the lucky ones whose store double coupons, this would be a great coupon to use, now making it worth $0.60.  You’ll be able to walk away getting this item for $0.40.  Savings equals 60% using the coupon at double the value.

See how your savings can fluctuate?  Couponers don’t always walk about with free stuff, no matter how seasoned you are.  It’s combining the right sale to the right coupon.  Having the right coupon and a bunch of them at the same time.. can make you an extreme couponer.

I strive to always save around 60% at the store.  To me, that’s realistic.

Join me tomorrow as I discuss Part 3 – How to save without printing coupons!

 

 

How to Start Couponing Part 1

With TLC Extreme Couponing Show, many of you new readers are wondering how to get started.  It’s great that the show, shows people walking away with huge amounts of savings however it doesn’t show you how to get started.

I’m going to show you how to get started and you’ll find It’s really simple to get started once you know the basics!

One thing you’ll notice on the show is that the people on the show buy several of the same items.  Buying multiple items and stocking up is the key to savings.  However the show is unrealistic too.  If I went into the store and bought 1000 boxes of cereals and had 1000 of the right coupons my savings would be extreme too.

I don’t extreme coupon.  I get multiple papers, a total of 5.  Having multiple coupons is what you need and how extreme you want to go is up to you and your amount of coupons.

The stores you shop at are also extremely important.  If you have a store that doubles coupons you can walk away with even more savings.  Here in Las Vegas our stores don’t offer that, but don’t let that discourage you.  You will still be able to walk away with free items and unbelievable savings.

Don’t be too concerned with walking away from the store with a 99% savings.  Most couponers on average save about 50-60% off of their grocery bill consistently!  As long as you are saving that’s what’s important!

Now before I show you how to coupons we need to back up and learn the basics.

Throw everything you know about couponing out of the window.  Couponing is for buying things when you don’t need them.  If you are going to start couponing, you need to keep an open mind, be willing to try different brands.  If you stick to one brand it’ll reduce your savings opportunities.

Join me tomorrow as we discuss part 2 and review sale ads.

 

 

Stockpiling Series: Part 4

photo credit: tactical-survivor.com

Welcome Back to How to build your stockpile series.  If you’re just now joining us for the first time, be sure to check out Part 1:  Organization , Part 2: Calculating your stockpile need, Part 3:  Waiting for the perfect sale.

Part 4:  Getting multiple coupons.  This is key to building your stockpile if you are couponing.  If you’ve decided couponing is not for you, Part 4 will not apply to you.

There are several ways to get coupons.

1st – sign up with newspaper.. if you live here locally just email me and we can get you signed up to receive additional sunday newspapers for less than $1.00.  I get a total of 5 Sunday papers.

If you don’t live in the Las Vegas are you can still take advantage of discounted newspapers..

Newspaper Subscription
2nd – If purchasing extra newspapers are not within your budget.  Take a walk around your neighborhood and scope out who gets the Sunday Paper.  Take you’re coupon insert and knock on the door and introduce yourself and ask them if you can have their coupons, if they don’t use them.

3rd – Get coupons HERE on my website.  You’ll have access to print all available coupons online.  You can print most coupons twice – so if you have a desktop and laptop that would give you 4 coupons.  Save on ink by printing in black and white.

4th – Participate in Coupon Swaps , post and ad in Craigslist.Org or Freecycle.Org, ask family, friends, neighbors and co-works for their coupons.

5th – Make rounds at places such as Coffe houses, McDonalds, Hospitals and other places you know that sells the Sunday Paper.  Lots of time you’ll find people leave their papers for others to read.  You can also approach and ask people reading their papers if they use their coupons.

6th – Hit the Recyling Bins in your neighborhood.  Beware of this, some properties consider this trespassing.  But if you live in communities like mine, we have our own recycling container that we put out on the curb each week.  Take some gloves with you and walk your neighborhood.

7th –  If need be order coupons on line.

Choose whichever method that’ll work for you!  The key is getting multiple coupons.  This way you can increase your stockpile at the lowest price possible.

What are your favorite ways to get coupons?

 

Stockpiling Series: Part 3

How to build your stockpile

photo credit: tactical-survivor.com

Welcome back to how to build your stockpile.  If you’re just now joining us be sure to check out stockpiling series Part 1: Organization and Part 2: Calculating your stockpile need.

In Part 3 we’ll be waiting for the perfect sale to increase our stockpile.

In part 2 example we’ve calculated that we need to grab 12 toothbrushes to get us through the next sales cycle.

You don’t need to coupon in order to increase your stockpile, you just need to wait for the store to put the item on sale at their rock bottom price.  However if you have coupons to apply to the rock bottom price, you’re savings will be even more significant.

We’ll be assuming that all of us are couponers in my next example.

Let’s say, their is a sale on Colgate toothbrushes 10/$10.00, normally priced at $2.29 each.  By waiting for the sale I’ve already save $1.29, but now I want to further my savings to see if any coupons are available on this product.  So I’ll check the printable coupons.  Wahoo! I find $0.75/1 coupons are available for this product.  Which makes the final cost $0.25 each.  If I purchase all of these with a coupon it’ll cost me $3.00 for all 12!  Which is amazing since one at regular price was $2.29.

As I said earlier you don’t have to coupon to save.  The regular price would have been $27.48 if you bought all of these one at time when you needed it, not on sale.  Buying them on sale would cost you $12.00, saving you $15.48, but if you coupon, it would cost you $3.00 see how couponing pays off?

Having multiple coupons is key to this, join me tomorrow for Part 4:  Getting multiple coupons.

Want to know more about how to start couponing?  Check out my how to start couponing series.
MomsLifeboat ~ Las Vegas, NV
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