children — Beating Broke

Teach Your Child About Finances With This Book

March 7, 2019 By MelissaB 3 Comments

As a mom and personal finance blogger, I get the opportunity to review many books. One that I just reviewed that I can’t recommend highly enough is Sunny Lee’s book, Is Your Child a Money Master or a Money Monster?

Sunny Lee is a financial advisor, and she has taken the time to teach her twin sons about money. In fact, her strategy has worked so well that she’s sharing all her techniques in this book.

Lee has a variety of strategies for teaching kids about money in a fun, incentive-filled way.

Offer rewards. Lee’s strategy of offering her children rewards helps shape their behavior in a positive direction. For instance, when her sons were in 1^st grade, Lee developed the Morning Stuff Allowance Project. Each morning, her kids had to get up when their alarms went off, tidy their rooms, get dressed, pack their backpacks, and make and eat their own breakfast and get to school on time. If they did this every day, they earned $3 a week.

While the kids were motivated by the money, they were also unknowingly developing skills that would help them through the rest of their lives. Even better, Lee didn’t have to fight with her boys in the morning to get up and get their chores done. Everyone in her household could enjoy a more peaceful morning.

Play games. As the boys got older, part of Lee’s strategy to teach them about money was to give them a safe place to experiment. She did this by finding a variety of free, money based games online. Her boys experimented online with running a coffee shop. They had to decide when to discount their coffee based on the season, how much inventory to buy, etc.

Try out your skills in the real world. Finally, Lee let her sons experiment and try their money skills in the real world. An important component of this was to let them fail in small ways. One son spent a large sum of money on a hat, which he loved, but then he didn’t have money available for a while after that. Her other son learned from his brother and bought a hat at a discounted market so he wouldn’t use all of his money on one item.

Lee’s book contains seven strategies to teach your kids about money (and as a byproduct, teach them personal responsibility). One thing I loved about the book and her strategy is that she keeps adding layers to her plan. For instance, after her kids mastered the Morning Stuff Allowance Project, that remained in place, but Lee added on the Special Incentive Project. If her boys chose to, they could earn additional money throughout the week by completing a book report, doing an art project, etc. Again, she helped her children grow academically and artistically through an incentive.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to not only give their children a strong financial footing, but also a strong work ethic.

Have you read this book? What is your favorite book to teach kids about money?

Your Children Will Grow and So Will Your Income

September 21, 2015 By MelissaB 3 Comments

Is your budget tight? Have you slashed, and slashed, and slashed expenses but still find that there is no money left at the end of the month? Do you find that your kids are eating more and more while grocery prices are increasing? Do you despair at the news of rising egg costs? Do you find that your grocery dollars don’t buy as much as they used to even a year ago?

Me, too. I’m right there with you, but I’m here to tell you, don’t lose hope. Things will improve. Your children will grow, but so will your income.

You May Not Have Thought You Could Survive the Baby Years

After I had my third child, I was overwhelmed, to say the least. I was sleep deprived and exhausted trying to work from home to make money to pay down our debt, while helping my 7 year old with his homework and projects and caring for two kids under two.

Children will grow, so will your income — Original Image by Ray Dumas on Flickr

I thought I would never get a full night’s sleep again. I couldn’t imagine a day without endless diaper changes. I was in the thick of things.

But little by little, my kids gained independence. First, one potty trained and then the next. Hello diaper free days!

Then, one stopped using the stroller so I could move to a single stroller instead of a double one. Then both grew up enough to not need the stroller. Suddenly we could leave the house without a stroller or diaper bag. Hello sweet freedom!

Gaining a bit of my life back was a gradual thing. Each day now, my kids grow more and more independent and rely on me less for immediate needs.

Improving Your Finances Is a Gradual Process

I’m realizing, that even though my husband and I are in the thick of things financially, this time, too, shall pass. Right now between braces, increased appetites, extracurricular activities, etc., we’re spending a lot of money. Our budget is T-I-G-H-T. But, in 13 years or so, all of our kids will be out of the house and on their own.

Not only will our life be our own, but our money will, too. Just like I couldn’t imagine a full night’s sleep when my kids were little, I can’t imagine a month when our budget is not straining. But I know it’s coming.

Once the kids move out, there are so many ways expenses go down. You can move into a smaller house, if you’d like. A minivan won’t be necessary anymore; a sedan will do just fine. Two people eat much less than five, so groceries will be lower, too.

But it’s not just the increased expenses that will improve your bottom line. There are the financial increases. You and your spouse will continue to get raises. If one parent stays home with the kids now, that parent can go back to work. Having two incomes when you’re used to one can help you catch up financially, and quickly.

So, parents, don’t despair. Finances will get better, especially if you remain disciplined and don’t upsize your life as your income increases and your expenses decrease.

Are you a parent of older or grown children? If so, how have your finances changed over the years? Are you a parent of young children? Is your budget stretched, and stretched, and stretched? Share your experiences!

Are Extracurricular Activities Necessary for Young Children?

September 8, 2015 By MelissaB 1 Comment

Little Amber is performing in her first dance recital. She’s only three years old. She feels pretty in her sparkly costume, and she likes the way her mom has done her hair. But, she can’t remember many of the dance moves. She and her classmates spend most of their time on the stage looking to the wings where their dance teacher hides from the audience behind the curtain and performs the moves with the girls.

Amber’s parents pay for dance recital pictures as well as a DVD to capture the memories. In all, they spend about $200 on the recital, in addition to the regular lessons they pay for all year.

Plenty of parents have their young children in extracurricular activities and can relate to the experience and the price. As parents we’re told again and again how vital extracurricular activities are for our children, but is this myth true?

Do we need to have our children in expensive extracurricular activities?

Falling for the Myth

When my oldest child was 4, we enrolled him in a few extracurricular activities. This continued until he was 7 at which time we decided to get gazelle intense. Our two youngest children had no opportunity to be involved in expensive extracurricular activities because of our tight budget.

What have I noticed? While my oldest was a busy kid thanks to school, homework, and extracurriculars, my two youngest (now 5 and 6) have a lot more free time AND play time. Sure, they fight (often), but I also see how creative they are. Every day they’re coming up with new stories to act out and games to play. Contrary to the myth that kids need to be involved in extracurricular activities, I find that my younger two seem to be better off without all of the extracurricular activities.

Are Extracurricular Activities in Preschool Necessary?

We’ve also bought into the myth that kids need to start a sport or activity early—the earlier the better. If your daughter is going to have any chance of being successful in dance or gymnastics, she should start at 3 or 4.

But that’s not necessarily true.

“Misty Copeland, who has been promoted to top dancer at the prestigious American Ballet Theatre in New York. . .started ballet lessons at 13” (NPR).

Do You Have to Outsource?

You may think, rightly so, that some lessons like swim lessons shouldn’t wait until your children are older. I would agree with that. However, do you have to outsource the swim lessons? Just this summer, I looked into swim lessons for my kids. They were going to cost $200 for 5 days’ worth of lessons, 15 minutes per day per child. Yikes!

Instead, my husband started taking the kids to the pool one by one and teaching them how to swim. They love the one-on-one time with dad, and we love that we don’t have to pay $600 to teach three kids how to swim!

If you have your children in extracurricular activities, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, if you choose not to, or you can’t because you can’t currently afford extracurricular activities, know that there are plenty of other ways to teach your children things like swimming. Some of our best athletes, like Misty Copeland, don’t even begin their sport until their teens. Your children will be fine.

How important do you think extracurricular activities are to young children? Do you have your children enrolled in extracurricular activities, or do you choose not to?